Time in Hell
by mariethetree
Summary: Danielle has always dreaded the time spent in Cross Roads Mall. Now, she's spending the Apocalypse there. CJ/OC
1. Chapter 1

"Only 45 more minutes of hell." Danielle said to herself as she looked down at her watch to see how much time she had until her shift was over.

"Um, Hello!" Danielle quickly looked up to see the annoyed face of another lovely customer. He was an older man wearing a suit and had on a watch that looked like it cost more than her rent.

"Ugh, this guy's gonna be a prick." She thought to herself. She breathed in and in her fakest "friendly customer service approved" voice greeted "Hello, welcome to Hallowed Grounds, may I take your or-"

He held out his hand to shut her up, "Give me a small nonfat iced caramel macchiatto with sugar free vanilla and half a shot of espresso. And make sure its stirred and made upside down. And please don't mess it up, I'm in a hurry." He yells out his order like he's giving military commands.

" I was right...prick. He's gotta be fucking kidding me" Danielle thinks to herself before her thoughts are interrupted by, "Did you get all that? Cause I really don't feel like repeating myself."

"Coming right up!" Danielle chirps as she turns around to make his ridiculous drink, rolling her eyes out of disgust for both the rude customer and the fake enthusiasm in her voice.

"Okay, nonfat..iced...caramel macchiatto...sugar free vanilla...half shot of espresso...stirred and made upside down." she repeats the list of demands to the customer while handing him his beverage.

"Finally" he mumbles as he snatches the drink from her hand.

"Asshole" Danielle whispers to herself.

"You know, you're never gonna get any tips with that attitude." Tara smugly points out.

Aggravated like always by her co-worker/ room mate, Danielle replies to Tara, "Maybe I should just unbutton my blouse like you."

Tara gives a flat, sarcastic "Ha-Ha"

"At least I can pay my share of the rent on time" Tara adds.

Irritated once again by Tara, Danielle looks down at her watch, 41 minutes remaining until her shift ends.

"Fuck!" She mumbles in annoyance.

"Ehem", Danielle looks up, afraid of what might be looking back at her.

"Oh, thank god" she sighs, chuckling. "Its only you."

The familiar face was a security guard that Danielle had partially gotten to know while working at Hallowed Grounds, C.J.

"Who the hell did you think it was?" C.J smirks.

"I don't know, some other asshole customer." Danielle begins putting together his usual. " I don't know how you can drink so much of this shit."

"Keeps me awake. Someone's got to keep these fine people of Cross Roads Mall in order."

Danielle laughs, "Yeah, at least you're not forced to be nice to them... and you get to use a gun."

C.J. was the only other person she knew that seemed to share her low tolerance for the stupid people they had to deal with on a daily basis. Bart, another security guard, was the only exception, whose stupidity didn't seem to bother Danielle, but instead, made her laugh. Over the two years Danielle had been slaving at Hallowed Grounds, her and C.J. had exchanged small talk almost every day. In the beginning, he would just order his coffee and be on his way. But, as time went by, he began to notice how she rolled her eyes at the annoying customers, how she constantly put insufferable Tara in her place, how she didn't put up with the dumb ass teenagers that polluted Cross Roads Mall on Friday nights, and how sarcastic and funny he thought she was. Eventually he began to spend more time on the first level, near Hallowed Grounds. He would never admit to actually caring about a girl he hasn't even slept with, though. He didn't even want to think about how the other guys would constantly bust his balls. He also wasn't sure how Danielle felt. She was younger and he had seen how other men had unsuccessfully tried to flirt with her. Some days he felt that maybe his feelings towards her could be mutual, but then others he couldn't possibly talk himself into believing that she'd ever want to settle for him.

"So what's with the make-up?" C.J. was staring at Danielle's full lips coated in deep red lipstick. "You trying to impress me?"

Danielle could feel her cheeks starting to burn. She chuckled and blew it off, "You know, desperate attempt to get tips"

C.J. smiled and glanced at the empty jar labeled "tips","Doesn't seem to be workin out for you."

"Well, you know, my charming personality also happens to be a factor", she handed him his drink.

C.J. took a sip and nodded, "Well you got me", he slipped a bill in the empty jar "See you later Dani."

Danielle smiled a sincere smile that only seemed to come around when she was with C.J. and waved goodbye.

She had never expected to get close to anyone in Milwaukee, and she had almost succeeded. While attending school there she had never really connected with anyone like she had hoped. Even though she liked to think she didn't have any kind of stereotypical values, she really did want to fall in love, cheesy as it sounds. She was almost 25, and although it is still young, she had wanted to have some kind of romance under her belt by now. Instead, however, she was stuck at a shit job with a perv manager, a room mate she couldn't stand, and no real friends. Basically, life in Milwaukee had been a failure, and now she was just busting her ass to pay off as much of her college loans as she could and maybe even save up some money to get a place back home. Although, when she thought about it, not everything had turned out to be unfortunate. She didn't really consider C.J. as a real friend because they had never spoken outside of the mall. However, based on the relationship they had made while she was working, she could see herself becoming closer to him. There was no doubt that she had thought about it before, especially lately. He hung around longer, he was always making her laugh, and she noticed her day feeling brighter after having talked to him. She felt like an idiot when he mentioned her lipstick. He was right; she was trying to impress him. Her heart nearly stopped when he mentioned it. "God," she thought. She was being as giddy as a fucking teenager. She felt stupid to get so excited merely about grabbing his attention. But, he did notice. You could even say he flirted a little bit. Danielle could feel herself beginning to get stuck on the idea of her and C.J., and she didn't feel bad about it. But, then again, he had never taken the initiative to ask to see her outside of work. Why hadn't he? Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. Maybe she was just some silly little girl he liked to entertain himself with while he was on the job.

"There she is!" Danielle turned around to see the suit-wearing asshole she served earlier pointing an accusing finger at her. "That's the idiot that fucked up my order!"

"Now sir, I'm going to need you to calm down." Tara tried to diffuse the situation.

"Seriously how hard is your job?! My 5 year old could make a damn cup of coffee!" He began to raise his voice.

Adam, the manager, finally came over to see what was going on. "Sir, I am so sorry, I apologize about her. I'll get you another right away."

"Yeah, get me a refund while you're at it! I specifically told this MORON I wanted SUGAR FREE vanilla! Seriously! I can TASTE the difference!"

Danielle finally decided to say something, "Sir, I can assure you that I made your drink exactly how you asked."

"No, no, no, because if you had done that I wouldn't have had to waste my time coming back here! Seriously, do I have to tell you my order in Spanish for you to get it right!?" he snapped. Danielle caught Tara trying to hold back a giggle at the insult.

"Oh go fuck yourself!" Danielle knew as soon as she said it she was screwed. She was so angry she didn't care about the consequences.

Everyone's jaw dropped, including the prick in the suit. "Is this how you run things around here!? Oh, I can assure you I will never be coming back here!" He slammed the complementary drink Tara had handed him on the counter and walked away.

"Tara, hun, take care of things while I have a talk with your friend over here." Adam motioned for Danielle to meet him off to the side.

"Are you out of your mind! Adam, to Danielle's surprise, actually wasn't staring directly at her breasts at this moment.

Danielle snapped back into reality and now finally grasped the seriousness of the situation. "Listen Adam, I'm sorry I freaked out like that! I know it was so unprofessional and I shouldn't have said it, but he was trying to humiliate me!" Danielle couldn't believe she was actually starting to get choked up. She needed this job.

She noticed C.J. walking over in the corner of her eye. "Hey, what's going on here?" he asked, "Danielle, you okay?"

Before she could answer him Adam butt in, "Actually your little friend here has just lost her job."

Danielle gasped, "Please Adam, you know I need this job. I _need_ this job. Please don't make me beg."

Adam seemed pretty fucking pleased with himself. He crossed his arms and let out a short laugh, "Beg! I've put up with your shitty attitude for two years! Aww, you really shouldn't have mentioned that! Now you gave me an idea!"

"Come on man-," C.J. started before Adam replied, "This doesn't concern you mall cop!" He tried to belittle C.J., "Why don't you take your ass over to Carousel and monitor over there!"

C.J. was getting pissed, but he didn't want to get Danielle into anymore trouble, so he kept his mouth shut.

"I think a little begging could do you some good." Adam looked around and lowered his voice to make sure no one else could hear him, "Go over there, make me a nice hot cup of coffee, get on your knees and give it to me."

"Oh you've got to be out of your fucking mind!" C.J. wasn't keeping a lid on his temper anymore. "You really think I'm gonna let your dumb ass get away with this? She can sue the shit out of you!"

"Shut up, C.J." Danielle said to him as she walked over to make Adam's cup of coffee.

"Danielle, don't this", C.J. tried to talk her out of it.

Danielle stared blankly at the steaming cup of hot liquid in her hand and walked back over to Adam, C.J. trailing along, continuing to try and stop her. Adam, arms still crossed, looked as if he was having the time of his life. Danielle tried to hand the coffee over while still standing, but was stopped by Adam shaking his head "no".

"Like we discussed", he persisted.

"Danielle, I swear if you do this, I'm gonna kick this guy's ass" C.J.'s threat only seemed to please Adam even more.

Danielle looked at Adam dead in his face. She smiled one of the fake smiles she had come accustomed to using while working at Hallowed Grounds and immediately threw the cup of steaming coffee in his face.

"FUCK!" Adam screamed in pain and fell to the ground, "YOU BITCH!"

"Oh my god!" Tara exclaimed.

Danielle made sure plenty of people were looking now, "Fuck you, you pervert, and fuck this job too!" Danielle ripped off her apron and threw it to the ground at Adam.

"You crazy bitch!" Adam began wiping off his face with a towel Tara had handed him.

"Aww, why don't you call security on me?" Danielle teased as she looked over to see C.J. laughing with her.

She smiled at C.J. and turned around to make an exit.


	2. Chapter 2

Danielle sat alone on the empty bench at the bus stop. She waited under the darkening sky for the 7 o' clock bus to take her back home to the apartment she shared with Tara. She glanced down at her watch and saw that it was 6:57. Anxiety took her over as she let herself think about what had just happened.

"Holy shit, I can't believe I did that" she thought to herself. Conflicting thoughts constantly rambled around in her head. "Maybe it was too harsh. Maybe? I threw a fucking drink in his face, **of course** it was too harsh!", she winced. "But, the look on his face!", she laughed. "Oh, fuck him! The perv deserved it! I can't believe he actually thought I was gonna get down on my knees!" Then she began to think about C.J., how he tried to stand up for her. She smiled a stupid smile and immediately rolled her eyes at it. She wasn't used to feeling all fuzzy inside.

Her thoughts were halted by an unusual groaning noise she heard coming from behind her. She cocked her head to the side. There was no one else around, but she could still hear the animal-like noise. " What the hell is that?", she thought to herself standing up. She squinted her eyes and peered into the alleyway behind her. The odd sound was definitely coming from there. Behind a dumpster, she noticed legs thrashing. Backing away, she realized that she shouldn't try to do anything about the situation. She could hear her father's words ringing in her ears. "Be careful, always look out for yourself. Don't end up like those stupid people you hear about on the news. I'm not gonna have you make tragedy out of your life."

The loud "_SCREECH_" of the bus stopping made her jump. The doors opened.

"You alright there?" the older bus driver noticed Danielle's uneasiness.

"Yeah, thanks", Danielle smiled and looked back at the dumpster. Whoever was there was gone now.

Danielle shook off the feeling and made for the first step onto the bus. Suddenly, from her left she heard a disturbing shriek. She jerked her head around and met eyes with the mangled face of a homeless man. Teeth dripping with what looked like blood, he pounced onto Danielle.

Danielle screamed, her heart racing, "GET OFF ME!" She kneed him in the crotch and threw her fist as hard as she could slamming into his nose. A few people had gotten off the bus to help her. A larger guy threw the deranged man off of her while a woman helped Danielle up and led her into the bus. A moment later, while Danielle was being tended to, the large man that had helped her came back on.

"SHUT THE DOORS, MAN! SHUT THE DOORS!" he yelled belligerently.

A few people on the bus screamed at the sight of the large man covered in blood. The bus driver immediately obeyed the man's plea and shut the doors. As soon as the doors had sealed shut, Danielle heard a "BANG" as she saw the lunatic throwing himself at the now cracked and blood-stained doors. More screams from inside the bus were heard.

"He's fucking crazy!" someone yelled, "Get us out of here, let's go!"

The bus driver, desperately trying to catch his breath, started the bus at once. Danielle looked out the window to see the insane man running after the bus. After a block or so they finally lost him and Danielle finally sighed in relief.

A couple of people were now trying to help the larger man, who was now clutching his wrist

"You sure you don't need to get to hospital or anything?" one woman asked.

"Nah, I'm fine. Crazy bum just bit me." he spat out.

After that the bus grew quiet. A couple of people went on discussing the problem with crime in the city. Most were still in shock. When Danielle got to her stop she noticed a woman that was sitting in front of her, grasping her crying daughter. As Danielle walked off the bus, she had to reassure a few more concerned people that she was alright, including the still shaking bus driver. She stepped off the bus and made her way down the dark street towards her apartment building. Once she got close enough she noticed that Tara's car wasn't parked on the curb yet. "Thank God" Danielle thought to herself. She was never in the mood to deal with Tara, and she sure as hell wasn't gonna put up with her after everything that had just happened. As soon as she got inside she locked the door, flung her purse on the counter, and strolled into the kitchen. All that lay in the fridge was mayonnaise, milk, cheese, and an old to-go box that had been sitting there since god knows when. "Bleh" Danielle shut the refrigerator door and walked to her room. While removing her tight black slacks, she flipped on the television and threw herself on the bed.

"Fuck!" she exclaimed as she saw the black and white static. "Idiot forgot to pay the bill again!" She shut off the TV and rolled over in bed. She was beginning to loosen up and finally drift off into sleep when the sharp "ring" of her cell phone ceased her moment of relaxation.

"Hello?" she answered groggily.

"Danielle!" her mother yelled back at her.

"Jesus, mom, what's wrong?" Danielle was awake now.

"Have you seen the news?! You need to get over here! It's not safe in the city! Those things are out there! We're all at the hotel, its safe here. Your dad and your uncles are working on putting up a fence and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, what are you saying?! Mom!" Danielle let out a nervous laugh, "Are you serious?"

"Danielle," her voice broke, "you need to get over here now." her mother said every word with genuine seriousness.

"Mom, calm down. I'm fine. Don't worry about me. You guys are being crazy! Building a fence in the middle of the night? And now you're asking me to drive all the way out to the middle of nowhere to grandma's hotel?!" Danielle and her mother were referring to the bed and breakfast that belonged to Danielle's grandmother. It was Danielle's absolute favorite place. The great cabin-like house sat near a portion of lake in the middle of the woods. They would always go there for Christmas, the Fourth of July, New Years; It was here that Danielle had made some of her best memories. It was tempting to drop everything and retreat to a place where she felt warm and welcome, especially on a day like this, but Danielle decided that she wasn't going to let herself get caught up in the current nonsense the world was spewing.

"Mom, breath. I'm fine. This whole virus crap they've been talking about on the news is gonna blow over. It always does. I'd love to come down and see you guys. You know I would, but I can't. I don't have a car, and I'm broke", she chuckled, trying to ease her mother's tension.

"We can send someone to come and get you! You'll be here by the morning. It's not safe-"

"Mom" Danielle interrupted. "Stop. If your that upset about it, I'll take a bus and see you guys tomorrow. Please, just stop stressing yourself out. I can watch out for myself. Okay? I can't come tonight, but I promise I'll see you tomorrow. Everything will be alright." Danielle laughed, "Tomorrow you're gonna feel so crazy for freaking out like this!"

"Okay, I can live with that. I still wish I could see you now. Just take care of yourself." her mom replied, finally starting to sound reasonable.

"I always do." Danielle sighed, "Tell daddy I love him, you too by the way, when you're not being hysterical."

Her mother laughed, finally "Love you too, see you tomorrow."

Danielle hung up the phone and slipped underneath the covers only to be disturbed yet again by Tara coming in with a visitor.

"I'm home shithead!" Tara comes in shouting like a drunk with a mysterious frat boy-looking guest trailing in behind her.

"Ugh," before Danielle has a chance to lock her bedroom door, Tara bursts in with a pleased look on her face.

"What the fuck! Get out!" Danielle can hear Tara's catch of the night giggling like an idiot in the living room.

"Guess who Adam decided to take his anger out on after your little stunt?" Tara hollers.

"Guess who doesn't give a shit!" Danielle fires back. "Get out of my room!"

"Your room!? Seeing as you don't have a job to pay for the rent anymore, I don't think you have a room!" Tara retaliated.

"I already paid this month's rent dumb ass!" Danielle rolled her eyes at stupid Tara, "along with my share of the cable bill, which you forgot to pay AGAIN."

"Geez, calm down." Tara seemed annoyed to be getting lectured by Danielle, even though she was the one who came in yelling. "You're so pissy all the time!" She began to trip over herself, "You really need to get laid once in a while."

Danielle rolled her eyes once again and decided it was best just to allow Tara to go on with her little drunken rant. After all, she wasn't going to keep her little friend in the living room waiting for very much longer.

"I got you that damn job! You know, Adam would totally give it back to you if you slept with him, maybe even a raise." Tara added.

"I'd rather light myself on fire" Danielle was disgusted, "I don't need that shit job, and I don't need you telling me who I should fuck!"

"Damn! Okay then!" Tara giggled, "What about that security guard guy? I've seen how he looks at you, now he'd fuck you for sure!"

That was it "Get THE FUCK out Tara, NOW!", she pushed the skinny idiot out of her room and shut the door on her ass, making sure to lock it this time.

She could hear Tara and the man laughing outside her door. Eventually the noises of drunken snickering turned into Tara's loud moaning as her headboard slammed against the wall she shared with Danielle. Danielle shoved her headphones in her ears and threw her face in her pillow.

"What a long fucking day" was the last thought that crossed her mind before she finally fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

"This is an emergency broadcast...everyone stay indoors... do not leave your home for any reason..."

"Yeah, yeah," Ben groaned flipping through the channels.

"I was watching that", C.J sank deeper into his chair.

Ben, eyes still stuck on the television screen, continued flipping channels, only to toss the remote to the side, defeated. "Doesn't matter, same shit's on every station."

C.J. and Ben sat alone inside the dark store. "Jesus," Ben took his hat off as he and C.J. watched a girl get shot in the face by a police officer on TV. "Is this really happening?"

"First floor's clear!", C.J and Ben jumped at Bart's voice. Bart laughed.

"Quit screwing around Bart" C.J rubbed his eyes. It was nearly 4 am. "Where's the new kid? I told you watch him."

"Chill C.J., he went to the security room when finished doin rounds. So what's the news?"

Ben got up and started stretching,"Same shit about this virus thing, it's fucking crazy."

Bart walked over and sat in Ben's unoccupied seat. His expression looking anxious, Bart turned to C.J., "So what do we do?"

C.J. used to hate how Bart would always rely on him, like he was his big brother or something. But, as he got to know him better, C.J. realized that Bart was just a big kid. This situation was definitely the kind that Bart needed help grasping with. Ben was annoyed that Bart didn't look to him. He had been working there just as long as C.J. He thought it was an authority thing.

"We keep the mall secure, we make sure nobody gets in here." Ben answered.

"Basically what we do every night." Terry walked in.

Bart looked over at C.J. again. C.J. nodded. "Yep, keep an eye on the cameras, rounds every hour, stick together." He took off his hat and brushed his hands through his hair.

"They say they're sending help." Terry said, looking at the screen.

"Well, we're doin fine. We don't need any help. We'll just stay here til they sort this shit out." Ben declared walking out of the store.

"Where you goin?" Terry asked.

"Gonna go grab some coffee" Ben answered, walking past Terry.

"You think that's a good idea? Goin down there alone?" C.J. put his hat back on and looked back at Ben.

Ben, noticing everyone staring at him, took this as C.J. questioning his authority. "I don't need you to tell me what to do. You can save that shit for your little butt buddy over there." Ben motioned to Bart, laughing at his own joke.

"Fuck you man!" Bart hollered back.

"Asshole" C.J. muttered as Ben sauntered towards the elevators.

Terry joined C.J. and Bart on the couches. They all watched in silence for a little while until Terry broke the quietness. "I hope my mom's okay."

C.J. began thinking about his own family. His poor old man never recovered from losing C.J's mother. He could see the old drunk now, sitting in his beaten up recliner, wasting away. He was probably too intoxicated to even process what was going on in the world. He remembered their last encounter. C.J. was trying to be nice, visiting his father during the holidays. He knew it was a tough time for him. "You're still a security guard? A fucking security guard?!" his father let out a raspy laugh. "That is some fucking joke. Couldn't make it in the academy, so he becomes a fucking security guard! At a mall!" His father continued to laugh sarcastically while stifling a cough. "Thanks for the gift kid," he motioned to a watch C.J had gotten him,"nice to know you payed for it guarding a fucking Victoria's Secret!" he spluttered as he took another swig of Jack Daniel's.

C.J. closed his eyes and tried to erase the memory from his mind. Looking at the worry on Terry's face, he became aware that he could actually relate to him, despite the fact that he had no family to be concerned about. Ever since the talk began about this "world crisis" he couldn't get Danielle out of his mind. He found himself constantly wondering if she was alright, if she was hurt or scared, if she was worried about him too.

"Dammit" he thought to himself, "Why didn't I offer to take her home? Why didn't I ever ask for her number? Shit, why'd I have to be such a dumb ass?" She could be in his arms, right now, if he had ever taken a fucking chance. Now, for all he knew, she could be dead in the streets.


	4. Chapter 4

Danielle woke up tangled in her headphones. She pushed her disheveled hair out of her face and glanced over at the alarm clock. The bright red letters read 9:29. "Shit", Danielle sprang out of bed. She needed to be on a bus at 10:00 if she wanted to get out of the city. She jumped into a pair of dark skinny jeans and decided to throw her favorite leather jacket over the white v-neck she was wearing. Her mother had gotten it for her when she left for the big city as a going away present. Danielle thought her mom would get a kick out of seeing her in it. After slipping into her boots, she began putting together a bag of clothes and things she might need while she was away. As she tied her hair in a tight bun, she remembered her father's going away gift, a .357 magnum that laid in her nightstand drawer. Danielle hesitated as she pondered if it was really necessary to arm herself for a bus ride. Recalling her last encounter on public transportation, she threw the revolver in her bag and headed for the door. Advancing into the dark living room, Danielle slipped and caught herself on the arm of the couch. Looking down, she saw that a dark, slippery substance smeared on the wooden floor had caused her to loose her footing.

"What the hell?" Danielle flipped on the lamp that stood beside her. As the room became illuminated, Danielle realized that this substance was exactly what she had hoped it wouldn't be, blood. "Oh no." she whispered to herself as her eyes followed the trail of blood leading to Tara's door. She pulled the gun out of her backpack and slung the bag back over her shoulders. With her gun raised, she slowly walked over to Tara's bedroom door. Holding her breath, she gently turned the knob and pushed the door open.

"OH GOD!" Danielle retched, seeing Tara's naked butchered body sprawled across the bed. Her stomach looked like it had been ripped open, her insides mutilated. Danielle looked around the room, but there was no sign of anyone. The sick fuck that did this must have bolted. Danielle cursed herself for not getting a good look at the man Tara had brought home last night. Although, courtesy of the thin walls, Danielle was able to hear Tara cheering his name, Tyler, right before she drowned out the noise with music. She had always warned Tara to be careful about who she brought home, but Tara never cared for what Danielle had to say. Dropping her weapon to the ground, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911. "Pick up, dammit, pick up" she mumbled to herself. Finally, she heard a woman's voice on the other end. "Please, my room mate's just been murdered and I-" Danielle realized she was speaking to a recording, a recording explaining that the service was down. "No, no, no, no." She redialed, back turned to the corpse, afraid of seeing up close the damage that had been inflicted on Tara's body. Again, no luck contacting the authorities. Her curiosity took a hold of her. She almost dared herself to look at the body. Gazing over her shoulder, she couldn't believe what she saw. Tara's eyes, clouded and milky, were wide open and staring back at her. Tara snarled and snapped her teeth at Danielle as she began to lift her disfigured body off the bed. Danielle screamed and fell to the floor, reaching for her gun. They both stood up at the same time, Tara's insides pouring onto the floor. For a second, they stood there taking each other in. Danielle scrambled out the door and slammed it behind her, Tara crashing into it. A low growl erupted from the other side.

"What the fuck!" Danielle panted. Tara had to be dead. She had to be. There's no way she could have been alive. There was a fucking hole in her body! Nevertheless, she continued to frantically pound against the door. Finally, Danielle pulled her eyes away from Tara's rumbling door and ran to the kitchen counter to search for Tara's car keys. She found Tara's purse and scrambled around trying to locate the keys with her hand. "God dammit!" Danielle yelled in frustration as she dumped the contents of the bag on the counter. She heard the jingle of the metal keys fly out and slide across the counter, falling onto the other side. "Fuck" She ran over into the kitchen to find the keys. Danielle screamed as she finally saw Tyler, blood oozing from his mouth. He screeched and leaped for Danielle. It happened too fast for Danielle to get away from him. He grabbed her arm and bit down, causing Danielle to scream in pain. With Tyler's jaw still clenched down on her left forearm, Danielle pulled her revolver out of her back pocket, placed it against Tyler's temple, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. She felt the force of the gun as it blasted through Tyler's skull, his jaw loosening as his brains splattered across the kitchen cabinets. His limp body fell to the ground, blood pouring from the hole Danielle had just made in his head. This time, she didn't allow herself to freak out. She jumped over his carcass, grabbed the car keys, and ran towards the front door.

Before opening the door, Danielle peered through the peephole. Her heart dropped. Standing right in front of the door was Danielle's elderly neighbor, Ms. Hartman. Her arm was missing and it looked as if a chunk of her face had been bitten off. Behind her were dozens more of those things. The entire hallway was filled. "Oh my god" Danielle whispered to herself. "They heard the gunshot." She backed away from the door, going back and forth in her head trying to figure out what to do next. She ran back to her room and swept her curtains aside, looking out the window. She was speechless. Black smoke filled the sky of the city. Down below on the streets were smashed up cars, some engulfed in flames. People ran in all different directions. It was complete chaos. She took a deep breath, opened the window, and climbed out onto the fire escape, saying goodbye to the apartment she had shared with Tara for 5 years. Directly below her, 3 stories down, was Tara's car. "Thank God" Danielle said to herself. She began to quietly crawl down the stairs, trying not to catch the attention of anything on the ground.

She had made it all the way to the last flight of stairs when she stopped and tried to figure out a plan to get to the car without being seen. There was no way she'd be able to lower the ladder to the ground without it making a horrible loud noise. As Danielle looked hesitantly over the railing, a woman burst through the window next to her. Danielle screamed and lost her balance. She tipped over the rail, but managed to grab onto the ladder. Being pulled by Danielle's weight, the ladder flew downwards until it jammed and came to a stop. She dangled about 15 feet in the air. With no idea what to do next, she continued to clench the rusty end of the ladder. She couldn't climb back up; two more of those things had crawled through the broken window and were now snarling at Danielle's suspended body. Down on the ground, a few more had noticed her screams and began to make their way over to her. "Shit" Danielle grunted. She had to let go before more of them started to circle around her. She looked down one last time and finally unclenched her hands, bracing herself as best she could.

She hit the pavement hard, the side of her right thigh taking most of the blow. She wailed as soon as the pain hit her. Trembling on the ground, she wanted to lie there and collect herself, but she couldn't. A group had already began running for her. She rolled over and sprinted for the car, ignoring her throbbing thigh. Now, everything on the street was fleeing towards her. She swung the car door open and threw herself in, her hand instantaneously jamming the keys in the ignition. She flew down the street, hitting a few of those bastards as she made her way for the freeway.

It was like a scene pulled out of some apocalypse movie. Danielle constantly had to swerve around totaled cars that had blocked most of the road. It was hard to keep a fast enough speed with all the debris she had to avoid. But, if she stayed still for too long her car would certainly be ambushed. In the distance, she could see a bus that had tipped over onto its side and completely closed off the road. "Oh, God, how the hell am I gonna get through that" She drummed her fingers along the steering wheel. As she got closer to the accident, she noticed a man standing in the middle of the road waving his arms as if to tell her that he wasn't one of those things. She slowed down, thinking she might be able to offer him some help. When she got close enough to him, she motioned for him to come over to the passenger side so she could pick him up. Instead, he ran over to Danielle's side, grabbing at her locked door. "What are you doing?! Other side!" She yelled through the glass. He looked into her eyes and raised a shotgun at her window. He began to holler at her.

"Open the fucking door now! Don't try any stupid shit or I swear I'll blow your head off!" Danielle looked around furiously; if it weren't for that damn bus she could have easily sped off. "Hey!" he yelled. "1...2...-"

"Alright, alright!" Danielle put her hands up and opened the door, grabbing her bag as she exited the car.

"What you got in there?", he motioned to Danielle's bag.

"Wh- are you serious, it's just-just clothes and shit." she said.

"What about this?" he swiped her revolver out of her pocket.

"Hey!" Danielle tried reaching for her gun, but stopped when she felt the barrel of the shotgun pressed against her forehead. She glanced over into the distance and spotted a pack of those un-dead beings running in their direction. "Please, you can't leave me here. You can't take my gun and my car and leave me here! Please!" She begged.

"You're not my problem" He lowered himself into the car and made a U-turn, heading in the direction Danielle had just come from.

"Fucking bastard!" Danielle picked up a rock and threw it at the back windshield. The retreating car caught the attention of the zombies originally following Danielle. She threw her head in her hands and tried desperately to keep from breaking down. It would be impossible to go on while on foot, especially with those things at every corner. She decided that she had to get off the freeway while she was still able to. It was only a matter of time before she'd wind up being chased again. "The mall's not too far from here." she thought. She didn't want to let go of the idea of evacuating back home just yet, but she had no other choice. It would be relatively easy to get to the mall; she could even see the edge of the parking lot farther off in the distance. She'd be there in about 15 minutes, 10 if she ran. She began thinking about C.J. as she jogged along the road. She hoped to God that he was there at the mall and that he was okay. If she wouldn't be able to see her family, at least she'd be able to wait this whole thing out with him.

Just as she was about to finally exit the freeway, she spotted Tara's familiar vehicle smashed up against the front of a dump truck. "Fucking idiot" she said to herself.

"Please, please! Is someone there? Please help me." The same man who had robbed her earlier was now crying as he frantically tried to escape from the beaten up car he stole from her. "Please, my leg's stuck! Please, get me out of here before those things find me!" he pleaded.

"Calm down! Shut up before they hear you!" Danielle snapped at him.

He finally became silent, now seeing Danielle's face. "I- I'm so sor-"

"Shut up" Danielle cut him off before he could finish his bullshit apology. "Hand me the guns, now." She commanded. He did just as she asked and generously handed over the two weapons. She placed the revolver back in her left pocket and threw the shotgun in her backpack.

"You have to understand, I-I was desperate. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you. Please help me" he stammered.

Danielle, straight faced, looked deep into his eyes and said "_You're not my problem._" She turned her back and began to walk away, once again heading for the mall.

She could hear him sobbing behind her, begging for her help. "Please, please! Don't do this to me! I'm a person! Please!"

Danielle tried to drown out his calls, but she couldn't. She rolled her eyes and let out a deep breath. All she could think of was how disappointed her father would be in her. This wasn't who she was. As much as she liked to think that she was some cold-hearted bitch, she couldn't bare the idea of leaving someone to die. Even if this person just so happened to do that very thing to her not 10 minutes ago. She reluctantly turned around and attempted to help free his leg, which had gotten caught in the midst of the collision.

"Oh thank you! God bless you, thank you so much!" he cried.

"Shut up." Danielle said once again. She wrapped her hands around his damaged leg, trying to release it without causing further harm. "Damn, this thing's really in there" she said, attempting to position his leg to get him out.

"Oh shit, hurry! Those things are coming!" he whimpered. Danielle looked up to see 4 racing towards them. With no time left, she ripped his leg free. He wailed in pain as the jagged metal sliced up his leg.

"Come on! We gotta go!" Danielle yelled at him. She ran off the freeway, heading towards a metal fence that separated her from the mall. She looked back to see the man trailing far behind, his leg slowing him down. More zombies followed the 4 that Danielle had first seen. Danielle grabbed onto the fence and began climbing for her life. She reached the top and threw herself over, looking back one last time. The man was on the ground screaming as the creatures dug into his flesh.

Danielle ran as fast she could for the entrance of the mall. Once she got to the employee entrance she punched in the security code and slammed the heavy metal door behind her. The area around her looked untouched. She sighed with relief and began walking further into the mall. Surely by now someone had to have seen her on the security cameras. "Hello?" She yelled out. "Is anybody here?"

"How did you get in here?" Ben questioned her, his gun raised. Danielle jumped at his voice.

"Oh, thank God! You scared me!" Danielle laughed. "Where's everyone else?" She wondered about C.J. in particular.

"I said, how did you get in here?" He persisted, his voice getting louder.

"Ben, calm down, I used the security code like I always do. Why are you pointing your gun at me?" Danielle asked, feeling uneasy at the sight of his weapon.

"You can't be here. You need to leave." Ben demanded.

"What? Ben, those things are out there! I can't go back out there, they'll kill me!" Danielle whimpered.

"Well you can't stay here." Ben was completely cold.

"Ben, please don't make me go back out there! I'm not one of those things! I promise!"

"How am I supposed to know that's the truth? You expect me to just believe you and let you just stroll on in here?" He began shaking his head. "No, no. I'm not doin that. Not again."

"Ben, I said I'm not one of those things! Look at me! I'm talking to you, there's **nothing** wrong with me! Put your fucking gun down!" Danielle was getting angry.

"Yeah? The asshole who gave me _this_ was walking around and talking just like you right before he fucking sank his teeth into me!" He pulled up his sleeve to reveal a bloody bite mark just above his wrist. "So, you know what, fuck you. I'm not taking anymore chances." He wrapped his finger around the trigger.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing!" Danielle heard the familiar voice coming from behind her. C.J. walked up to them, Bart and Terry trailing behind.

"We don't know where she's been, C.J. She could be infected. I'm not letting you fuck everything up." Ben kept his gun aimed at Danielle's head.

"What's wrong with you man, look at her! Nothing's wrong with her!" Terry yelled.

"Shut the fuck up trainee! You don't know shit." Ben argued.

"Please, make him stop." Danielle said to C.J. "There's nothing wrong with me, I swear."

C.J. walked over and stood in front of Danielle, shielding her from Ben's gun.

Ben shook his head in frustration. "Get out of the way" he commanded C.J.

C.J. pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ben. "Put your fucking gun down." he said.

Ben looked over to see Bart also pointing his gun at him. He rolled his eyes and let his arm fall to his side. "You're gonna get us killed." he complained. "Keep her away from me." he added, walking away.

Danielle sighed as C.J. turned around to look her in the eyes. She reached up towards his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. His arms followed, gripping her closer to him. C.J. realized that Bart and Terry were looking on and broke the hug immediately. He cleared his throat and tried to be cool. "So, uh, you alright? You sure you're not hurt?"

"Yeah" Danielle replied, feeling a little weird to be pushed off of him like that. "I'm a little banged up, but I'll survive." She remembered the bruise that must have been forming on her thigh. "You guys mind if I go find a restroom or something?"

"C'mon, I'll take you upstairs. You aint running around down here alone." C.J. told her.

"Yeah, especially with Ben out to get you." Terry tried to lighten the mood.

The four of them made their way to the elevators. Danielle noticed that C.J. was acting a little strange, kind of bossy and colder than usual. It bothered her, but she didn't think too much of it. She was just happy to finally be somewhere safe and with living people.

C.J. didn't take his eyes off of Danielle. He couldn't believe how relieved he was to have her with him. Although, now wasn't the time to get all sentimental. Ben had fucking lost it. C.J. felt that he was basically in charge now. He had to make sure everyone stayed in line. They couldn't risk someone else losing it like Ben had. It was now C.J.'s responsibility to keep everything from falling apart like the rest of the city. He had to keep everyone safe. He had to keep Danielle safe.


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you really have to walk me to the restroom? I worked here for two years, I don't think I'm gonna get lost." Danielle groaned. She looked up at CJ, hoping to catch his usual smirk forming, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Shut up, I'm makin sure you don't steal anything." CJ didn't even look at her when he spoke.

"You're not fucking serious?" Danielle snapped back at CJ. He didn't say anything. He just kept walking towards the restroom.

He opened the door for her. "Don't take too long."

Danielle rolled her eyes and shoved past him. His attitude was really starting to bother her. He always did act kind of douchey when the other security guards where around, but they were alone now. So why was he still acting like a jerk? "Whatever", she thought to herself. She flipped on the lights and threw her backpack to the ground. She waited for the sound of the door closing behind her, but it never came. She looked over her shoulder to see CJ still standing in the doorway. "Uh, a little privacy?" She said.

"There's stalls." he replied. She stood there pursing her lips, giving him an annoyed look. "Fine." He put his hands up, walking out the door.

She looked back at the closed door and then to the mirror in front of her. "God,", she sighed to herself, seeing her reflection. Her bright white shirt was now stained in every exposed inch. Her hair was a mess and her face was painted with dirt and blood. She looked like she had just been chased down by a murderer in some slasher movie. She rinsed off her face and let her hair down. As she began to peel off her jacket, a sharp pain stung in her left forearm. Gasping in agony, she removed her jacket and looked down at her arm. She winced once she saw the swollen mark beginning to bruise. Her mind immediately recalled to when Tyler had bitten her back at the apartment. The last hour had been so insane that she had forgotten all about it. She lightly traced the outline of the wound with her fingertips. "Thank God he didn't get through the jacket", she thought to herself. She slipped off her shirt and tossed it in the garbage, grabbing a fresh black tank top once she was done washing the dried blood off her torso.

"Hey, C'mon!" CJ banged on the door.

"Just a second!" Danielle yelled back. She unbuttoned her jeans and gently pulled them down, stopping at the knee. She took a sharp breath in when she saw the damage on her thigh. Granted it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, it was still the worst bruise she had ever seen on herself. "Ooh that's a nasty one", she muttered to herself, still staring in the mirror.

"What's takin so long" CJ swung the door open to see Danielle standing there, pants around her knees. She shrieked.

"Oh shit" he immediately looked away and shut the door.

"What the fuck is your problem!" She yelled through the door. She couldn't remember a time when she felt more embarrassed. Her cheeks felt like they were on fire.

"What the hell are you doing in there?!" CJ yelled back, his heart racing.

Danielle burst through the door, her pants now rightfully around her hips. "You don't know how to knock asshole?!" She walked right past him.

He began to laugh. "It's not my fault you were staring at your ass in the mirror! What the hell's wrong with you!"

She turned around and punched him in the arm, making him laugh harder. "I was looking at a bruise, you asshole!"

"How the hell did you get a bruise on your ass?" CJ asked, still chuckling.

"I fell off a fire escape." She replied. He stopped laughing and looked at her. "What?" he asked.

"Oh look who's so concerned all of a sudden." Danielle mocked the worry in his voice.

"How the hell did you fall off a fire escape?" he grabbed her arm, noticing her other bruise. "And what the hell is this?"

"Geez", Danielle snatched her arm away. "What, did you think I just pranced down the streets? It was hell getting over here."

CJ looked her up and down. "What the hell happened to you out there?"

"Oh now he acts like he cares", she thinks to herself. "I'm fine, don't worry about me." She replied, continuing to walk into the store where Bart and Terry were watching TV.

CJ watched Danielle as she sat next to Terry on the couch. He hated that she was mad at him. Shit, he was just trying to keep her safe. He knew how impulsive she was, and he knew she would never take him seriously. He couldn't have her disregarding the rules he had set up, especially in front of Bart and Terry. He didn't like being mean to her, but he didn't want her to end up getting bit like that dumbfuck downstairs. If pissing off Danielle kept her from getting herself killed, it was worth it.

CJ sat down in the chair he had been in earlier, looking at Danielle. This was the first time she was able to see the news since this nightmare began. Yesterday morning this whole talk about a virus was nothing, it was hardly a story. Most thought it was a myth. Now, they were showing actual footage of bodies being set on fire. She watched in horror, her hand covering her mouth. She refused to let herself cry. Being the only female there, she didn't want to hear any shit about crying like a little girl. Instead, she fumbled around on her phone. The service was still down. Danielle could feel herself getting more aggravated every time she heard that annoying recording.

"It's no use." Terry sighed. "Trust me, I've been trying all morning."

"Just don't want my stupid dad driving all the way down to Milwaukee to try and find me." She shoved her phone back in her pocket.

"He'd do that for you?" Terry asked.

Danielle looked over at him "Of course he would, he's my dad."

"Must be nice." CJ commented.

Danielle tried to ignore him and continued talking to Terry. "Well I hope you old man's all right." Terry tried to make her feel better.

Danielle smiled. "Terry's such a nice kid." she thought to herself.

Bart swooped in over her shoulder, "Hey Danielle, what happened to Tara?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Terry added, "Isn't she your room mate?"

Danielle took a deep breath, "She was."

"Oh, man." Terry put his hand on Danielle's shoulder.

"Wait, so you guys don't live together anymore?" Bart asked, confused.

"She means she's dead dumb ass." CJ shook his head at Bart's stupidity.

"Aw, shit." Bart took his hat off. "Not Hot Tara!" he moaned.

"Bart!" Terry shook his head.

"Hot Tara?" Danielle raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Terry let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, we kinda gave her a little nickname." He looked anxiously at Danielle. "Sorry."

"Yeah, we spend so much time over at Hallowed grounds, we got a nickname for everyone over there!" Bart snickered.

CJ rolled his eyes and stood up to walk around. Terry made a face at Bart telling him to shut up, but he kept talking.

"Yeah, we got Hot Tara, Fat Chelsea..." he began scratching his head, "Fag Brian, uh...who else?" he snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, Dick Adam, Cute Laura..", he counted on his fingers.

"Bart! Shut up!" Terry scolded. "Danielle, I'm so sorry. I know you lost your friend and all-"

"Do you have a name for me?", she interrupted.

"What?" Terry acted surprised. "No, no way!"

"Bullshit!", she blurted out. "He said you guys had a name for everyone!" she motioned to Bart.

"Well you know, not _everyone_. That was just an expression, you're our friend." Terry insisted.

Danielle squinted her eyes and looked at Bart. "Bart, tell me my nickname." she asked.

Bart looked around at CJ and Terry, then back at Danielle. " It's Mean Danielle." he confessed.

Her mouth fell open. "Mean Danielle?" she laughed. "Seriously?"

Terry grinned, "Well..."

"I'm not-", she reminded herself of her bitter days at Hallowed Grounds before she finished that sentence, "..._that_ mean"

"I bet CJ's got a nicer name for you." Bart giggled.

CJ's mouth immediately turned downwards. "Shut the hell up Bart!" he started walking out the store.

"CJ, where you goin?" Terry called after him.

"Fucking idiots." he muttered under his breath as he made his way to the security room.

"Jesus, what the hell is his problem? Danielle had never seen CJ act like such an asshole. At least she knew now that it wasn't all directed towards her.

"Don't worry about it. He's been acting like that all day. I think this whole virus thing is really getting to him." Terry reassured her.

They sat there for a few more minutes. Danielle told them about the hell she had been through that morning. It felt good to get it off her chest. She almost didn't believe the story that was coming out of her mouth. She had actually shot someone...some_thing_ in the head. She saw her room mate's insides spill out of her body as she tried to attack her. She saw a man get eaten alive, not 20 feet away from her. The whole time she explained this horror story, Terry held her hand, listening intently. He was such a good guy. Why couldn't he be the one she liked? He was her age. He was good looking too, in that pretty boy sort of way. Why did she have to like CJ? He was older and he had a temper and he had been acting like an asshole all day. But, for some damn reason she felt so drawn to him. She couldn't stop thinking about him. In fact, she was beginning to get really worried about him being gone for so long.

"Hey, you think someone should go check on CJ?" Danielle asked, receiving a giddy smirk from Bart.

As if by some odd coincidence, just as she asked about him, CJ chimed in on Bart's walkie-talkie. "What's up?" Bart asked.

"Hey, you and Terry meet me by the elevators now, and bring your gun. I just saw a group of people break into Metropolis on the cameras."

"Shit!" Terry started running out the store.

"And, hey, don't let Danielle come with you. Make her stay in the store." CJ added.

Bart dropped his walkie-talkie and pointed to Danielle. "Stay here!" he said, racing for the exit.

Ignoring his command, Danielle grabbed the revolver from her back pack and ran for the elevators.

CJ saw her once he got to the elevators. "Wha- I told you to make her stay in the store! And where the hell did you get that gun?!"

"It's mine." she replied. "And I'm not going back in that store, so you can just forget about it!"

"Dammit Danielle! I'm not fucking around! I saw these guys on the security cameras, two of them have guns!" CJ snapped back at her.

"He's right Danielle," Terry said softly. "These people could be dangerous."

"Yeah Danielle, just give Terry the gun and go wait for us back in the store. We'll be right there!" Bart added.

Terry stretched out his hand to her. She gripped her fingers tighter around the revolver. "Screw you guys! Don't talk to me about danger! You guys don't know the first damn thing about danger! I've been attacked, bitten, chased, and had two fucking guns pointed at me, all in the last 2 hours! **I'm** the only one here who's actually been in any _danger_ today!" she ranted. "In case you forgot, while you all were sitting around all morning watching TV, I was getting hunted by those things in the goddamn streets! I think I can handle myself!"

CJ clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. He knew Danielle would do something like this. She always had to be so damn aggressive. It was actually one of the first things that attracted CJ to her, but he couldn't stand that she was now using it against him. Why the hell couldn't she just for once act like a normal girl and let him protect her! He thought to himself, looking straight into her eyes. The "ding" of the elevator broke their stare and they both instantly jerked their hands up, pointing their guns at the doors along with Bart as they slowly slid open to reveal a group strangers.


	6. Chapter 6

CJ tried to push Danielle further behind him. As soon as the people in the elevator saw them they raised their guns as well. Danielle tried to get a good look at everyone, peering over CJ's shoulder. There were five of them, three men and two women. Some of them were covered in blood. Overall, they all just looked scared out of their minds. Everyone just stood there for a short moment, it felt like forever. They all stared at each other until CJ finally broke the silence.

"Find some place else." he said.

The first person from the other group began to speak. It was a tall, bloody, white man in the very back of the elevator. "Look we just need a place to-"

CJ pointed his gun directly at him, causing him to stop talking. "Maybe you didn't hear me"

The man's voice became rigid. "There is no place else."

"Well that's tough shit, cause this is our place and you can't stay here." CJ fired back. Danielle felt that he was being cold, but she had to remind herself that these people were strangers; She couldn't trust them. With all the chaos going on, who knows what they might be capable of. She kept her gun raised.

"Yeah, and you already trashed Metropolis", Bart added, trying to sound intimidating.

A more assertive man, one of the ones carrying a gun, responded. "Look dumb ass, my wife is pregnant. We can't run anymore." He was a black man, shorter than the other two men in the elevator. Danielle knew as soon as he spoke that his attitude would only make CJ more defensive.

What he said caught Danielle's attention though. She began to lower her gun. "Did you say someone was pregnant?" The man stepped aside to show his wife's full pregnant belly and then immediately went back to shielding her. Danielle looked into the terrified woman's eyes and instantly felt conflicted.

Another woman, also holding a gun, tried to begin speaking. She motioned to the tall black man in the police uniform that was grasping his arm. "His arm-", she began, but she was cut off by the bloody guy in the back.

"Those things are down there." He shouted.

"Well, these are all your problems, not mine." CJ wasn't loosening up.

"If I put my foot up your ass, would that be your problem?", the cop threatened. Things were starting to get out of hand and Danielle was beginning to get nervous.

CJ directed his aim to the cop, "Hey asshole, I'm the one pointin' the gun at you!"

"CJ!" Danielle whispered his name to him, trying to calm him down. She was afraid his domineering attitude was gonna end up getting them shot at.

"He is a cop, CJ." Terry tried reasoning with him.

"So what" CJ replied.

The elevator doors began to close, but the man with the pregnant wife tried desperately to keep them open as CJ shifted his gun to point at him . Danielle could feel the tensions rising.

The blonde woman tried to speak again. "We're not gonna cause any trouble, just let us stay here for a little while. Please." She sounded sincere, or at least Danielle thought so.

CJ was quiet for a moment. He thought to himself, hesitating. "Okay", he finally said. "Come out of there slowly, and give your weapons to Bart and Terry."

"Don't do it." The cop warned.

"You must be out of your fucking mind!", The man with the gun yelled.

CJ tried to assert himself, "You can take your ass on over to Quality Inn if it's still there Shaq!" he shouted. "Huh? Wanna do that?" The group remained silent. "Let's go." he shook his gun at them.

The blonde woman was the only one to cooperate, handing her shotgun over to Terry.

"Hey, don't give him that gun!", the shorter black man warned her. As soon as he said this, Bart went over to collect the pistol he was holding. The man shook his head in frustration, but once his gentler wife set her hand upon his shoulder he let go of the weapon, muttering "Fuck." under his breath as he did so.

Danielle thought CJ was being a little harsh, but she had to admit to herself that she did feel safer knowing that no one in the other group was armed. Actually, she was surprised CJ even allowed them in at all.

The rest of the pack began to flow out of the elevator, "Smart move." CJ said.

CJ, Bart, and Terry began to guide them back to the TV store they had been in all morning. Danielle put her gun away while the others kept theirs raised. She, personally, didn't want to offend any of the new group more than she already had. The white man in the group noticed this, and gave Danielle a slight smile. Once they were back in the store, everyone gathered around to watch the news. Danielle watched their faces as they took in all this horror. The blonde woman in the front seemed more shocked than the rest. Danielle realized she was barefoot and still in her pajamas. Danielle wondered just what the hell this woman had been through that morning, not even being able to grab a pair of shoes as she went out the door.

"Alright let's go guys." CJ pointed to an area in the corner. "C'mon. Get your own little TV. C'mon, let's go." The group started moving to the back.

Luda, the pregnant woman, came up to CJ. "Excuse me, please" Danielle noticed her thick accent, possibly Russian? "Is there a restroom?" she asked, her husband Andre standing to her side.

"No. You're stayin' here." CJ told her. Danielle nudged him. Was he really so much of an asshole that he wasn't going to let this poor pregnant woman use the restroom? She could see Andre getting angry.

"So why don't you tell us which spot in here you'd like us to take a piss." Andre replied.

CJ gave in."Alright, it's around the corner that way." he pointed. The two started to walk away together before CJ stopped them. "Woah, woah, woah! Where do you think you're goin?, he said to Andre.

Andre gave CJ a stern look. "She's not goin anywhere alone." he said, pulling Luda closer as they walked off together.

"Oh, she's not goin anywhere-" CJ mocked. "This is a fucking nursery school!" he complained. "Terry go with them." he commanded. Terry followed groggily behind Andre. Danielle wanted to laugh, she could tell that Terry felt completely intimidated by Andre.

CJ went to go watch the news with Bart " Twitcher, now that is one cool motherfucker!" Bart commented about the sheriff on TV. He seemed to be entertained.

Danielle walked over to the three remaining members of the new group. "Is everybody alright?" She tried to make up for the way CJ was treating everyone.

The blonde woman, Anna, looked up at Danielle. Her hand was clamped down on the cop, Kenneth's, arm. "The bleeding's not gonna stop on it's own." She looked over at CJ, raising her voice so he could hear. "I need to stitch his arm."

"What are you, a fucking doctor?" he replied.

"No, I'm a fucking nurse." she retaliated.

CJ rolled his eyes and threw his keys to Bart. "First aid kit's in the security office." he said, eyes fixed on the television.

Anna left with Bart. CJ looked over at Danielle. He wanted to call her over to him, but he knew she'd probably make some smart-ass remark, making him look stupid. He continued watching the TV instead. "Huh, what'd I tell you boy?" he looked over to his left, remembering that Bart was no longer there. He then directed his gaze to Kenneth and Danielle. "America always sorts this shit out."

"I hope so." Danielle whispered to herself. The blood-covered white man had heard her.

"Hey, my name's Michael." He said softly. "I'd try to shake your hand, but-" he raised his blood-stained palm.

Danielle smiled. "Nice to meet you Michael, I'm Danielle." She grabbed a paper towel off the table and dampened it with a water bottle."Here" she offered it to him. "You got some on your face too."

"Thanks" Michael reached for it, smiling. "You know, you're a lot nicer than your friend over there." He said while wiping his face.

Danielle laughed softly and looked over at CJ to make sure he wasn't listening. "Yeah, I'm sorry about him. He's usually not this bad. He's just kinda on edge. You know, with all that's going on."

"We're all on edge. It's no excuse to act like an asshole." Kenneth chimed in, saying that last part extra loud so that CJ could hear him.

CJ looked over and stood up, beginning to walk over to them. "So what are we talkin' about?" He patted his gun with his hand. The three remained silent. "That's what I thought." he said.

"Ugh, would you just calm down!" Danielle was tired of him treating everyone like crap.

He looked over at her. "Come over here, I want to talk with you."

Danielle groaned but followed him anyway. "What?" she asked when they were out of earshot from Kenneth and Michael.

CJ grabbed her arm. "Nothing, I just don't want you hanging around with them."

"Why? They're good people. They're nice!" she argued.

"Of course they're nice to you! They wanna get on your good side."

"And why is that such a bad thing?" Danielle gave him a stupid look.

"Cause once they're on your good side, they're gonna try to fuck with your head, try to make you one of them."

Danielle laughed. "Jesus, you act like they're a fucking cult or something!"

"Might as well be. Listen to me, every time something like this happens, whether it's a flood, or a snow storm, or the fucking zombie apocalypse, people go crazy. I can guarantee you that the people out there that aren't getting killed by those infected things, are getting robbed, raped, and murdered by regular fucking people, just like those assholes." He pointed to Michael and Kenneth.  
"And I can also guarantee you that I'm not gonna let that shit happen in here. I don't give a fuck if you think I'm being unreasonable." He let go of Danielle. "Now come over here with me. I don't wanna catch you talkin' with them again."

Danielle wanted to argue, but he did make a good point. She followed him over to the couches. As they sat down, Luda and Andre walked in together. Danielle scoot over so they could sit down. Now, she was right next to CJ. A few minutes later, Ana and Bart came back in. Ana went over to Kenneth, beginning to stitch up his arm. Danielle cringed every time Ana stabbed the needle into him. Danielle noticed Michael get up and walk towards them.

He squat down in front of CJ so he could still see the TV "So what's the plan?" Michael asked.

"The plan is you drink a nice tall glass of shut the fuck up." he answered instantly, not even bothering to look at Michael.

"There he goes again." Danielle thought to herself, sighing in annoyance at CJ.

Michael was unfazed. "Okay, that's one idea." he mumbled. "What about locking this place down? Cause sooner or later they're gonna get in here."

CJ finally looked at Michael and sarcastically nodded. "That's good. Like I hadn't thought of that."

"Hey, no doubt." Michael replied. "You probably already thought of putting a sign on the roof." he breathed in. "Cause you-you know there's still planes in the air. Might be good to let them know we're alive."

CJ thought about it, then leaned in to talk to him. "We can get some paint from Case Hardware, use some office doors to board up the weak spots."

"That's a solid plan, CJ is it?"

CJ nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright CJ."

CJ stood up and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Alright everybody, listen up. I'm gonna give everybody a job to do and I expect you to do all of it. I don't wanna see any half assin'. You know what? Why don't you start off by cleaning up that mess you made in Metropolis?" He received a few annoyed looks and groans, but everyone got up and did as he asked. He looked at Danielle. "You know how to use that gun?"

She pulled the revolver out of her pocket and spun the barrel with her finger. "I'm the best damn shot in here." She grinned.

He laughed. "I'll believe that when I see it."

She ignored his teases. "Well hopefully you won't have to." She said walking to the exit. "Didn't they say that they saw those things down there?"

He followed her along with Bart and Terry. "Yeah." he pulled out his gun.

"What about Ben?" Terry asked. Danielle had forgotten all about him.

CJ took a deep breath. "We'll see when we get down there."

Everyone huddled into the elevator. Danielle held her breath as the doors opened when they got to the first floor. The area was empty.

"I thought you said those things were down here." Bart blurted out.

"I got one of em' in Reflex Sports." Michael said, stepping out of the crowded elevator.

"There was one by the fountain." Ana added.

"Well, there's some brooms over in that janitor's closet over there." CJ pointed. "Ya'll can start sweepin' up that glass you broke." He began walking off with Danielle, Bart, and Terry. "Guess we'll start with the water fountain." he told them.

They made their way over, Bart running a little ahead. He seemed to be completely unaffected by all this, like it was a game or something. Danielle stood in between CJ and Terry. Terry was obviously shaky, he didn't look like he had much experience with a gun. He jumped at every sound he heard.

"Hey CJ, look! Danielle, Terry, come take a look at Ben Cozine. Hey, Ben." Danielle and CJ ran up to see, Terry trailing behind. "Ben!" Bart yelled again. Ben was thrashing and shrieking in the bloody water. Danielle immediately knew that he was now one of those things.

"Christ, look at him." Terry muttered.

"Look, he's a twitcher." Bart used the TV reference. "TV says you gotta shoot em' in the head."

Terry looked at him. "TV said a lot of things that aren't true."

"Well fuck the fucker." CJ drew his gun. "I told him not to go downstairs." Just as Ben finally made eye contact with him, CJ fired and Ben fell into the murky water. CJ glanced over at the floating body for a second before turning around and saying, "Let's go. Get to work." Bart patted a shaken Terry on the chest before following CJ. Terry stood there for a moment, still looking at Ben's lifeless body.

"Oh, shit." He whimpered to himself. Danielle heard, and noticed the horrified look on his face. She realized that this was the first "zombie" encounter he had witnessed in person, and it was with someone he knew. Up until then, all he had experienced was behind a television screen.

Danielle gave him a regretful smile. "Better get used to it." She patted his back and ran to Bart and CJ, Terry following her a second later.

Downstairs wasn't as bad as Danielle thought it would be. After combing through every store, they only ended up finding one more zombie along with the body of the one Michael had already killed. CJ made Bart and Terry grab a few sheets and wrap up all the bodies. "We gotta get em' out of here, throw em' off the roof before they start smelling" CJ said.

"Too late for that." Terry said, his hand covering his nose from the putrid smell.

Danielle found a cart used for moving big boxes and stuff. "Here, we can use this." Terry and Bart began stacking the corpses on the cart then made their way to the elevators with CJ and Danielle. Once they got up on the roof they noticed that the rest of the group had already started working on S.O.S signs.

"Aw, look who's been workin' so hard." CJ taunted, earning the middle finger from Ana. He laughed and walked over to the edge of the roof, where Bart and Terry were already throwing off the dead bodies. Danielle stood, staring at the crowd of undead that were pushing though the trees and making their way over to the mall.

Michael stopped painting. " What are they?" he asked.

Ana looked up. " I don't know, why are they coming here?"

Danielle thought the same thing. Why _were_ they coming here?

"Memory maybe, instinct, maybe they're coming for us." Kenneth said. The idea made Danielle's spine tingle. She jumped, hearing gunshots nearby.

Everyone looked around trying to see where the sound was coming from. "Hey look over there!" Ana pointed to a building marked_ Andy's Gun World_. "There's someone on the roof."

CJ pulled out a pair of binoculars "Yeah, his name's Andy. He's alone." he said. Danielle pulled the binoculars away without asking. CJ rolled his eyes as she looked through them while they were still attached to his hand.

"He may as well be on the moon." Andre said. He was right. The building was just down the street, but the roads had become packed with those monsters.

"Poor guy." Ana said.

Danielle, still looking in the binoculars, noticed Andy was pointing to something. She looked in the sky. "There's a helicopter!" She yelled. Everyone began jumping up and down and waving, trying furiously to get it's attention, but it was no use. The helicopter flew right by them. "No, no, no, no, no!" Danielle yelled, stomping on the ground.

"They saw us! I mean, they had to have seen us. Don't worry baby, they'll come back. They'll send somebody or something." Andre tried to console Luda, who was now crying into his shoulder. Danielle sympathized most with Luda. She couldn't imagine how terrifying it must be to worry about bringing a poor little baby into the world right as it was falling apart.

"We'll just wait for them to come back. It's safe here." Ana reassured Luda. Danielle wanted to believe her, but looking over at the army of undead forming in the parking lot, she had her doubts.

It didn't take long for night to fall after that. Danielle really had hoped she wouldn't have to spend the night here, but she didn't have a choice. She walked with CJ as he led the five newcomers into a furniture store to spend the night in. "I don't want anyone sneakin' around and stealin' shit. Comprende?" He bent down to lock the metal gate."Sweet Dreams." he smiled. Danielle had taken a seat at Hallowed Grounds while he was locking up.

"Hey." CJ walked over and sat in the empty chair next to her. "You know, I never got the chance to tell you, but when you threw that cup of coffee in Adam's face, it was pretty awesome."

Danielle couldn't help but smile, but after a second her face went back to looking somber. "I can't believe yesterday my biggest problem was loosing this crumby job."

CJ grabbed her hand. "We just gotta wait for help. Until then we'll just wait here."

She snatched her hand away. "I'm not Luda, okay, you don't have to feed me that bullshit." She knew he was just trying to make her feel better, but she didn't want to feel better. She was scared and frustrated, and angry, and she had been keeping it in all day. "Look around you! Open your damn eyes! We're in the middle of what is probably the fucking apocalypse, and you're over here locking people up cause your worried about shit getting stolen!?"

"I thought we already went over this-"

She interrupted him. "You're so worried about_ people going crazy_," she mocked. "You can't see that you're the only one acting crazy! This isn't a fucking snow storm, there are cannibals **surrounding** us.** Trying to eat us**. Do you honestly think anyone gives a shit about stealing a goddamn TV!" she cried. Ana and Michael came near the metal gate of the store, hearing Danielle's shouting.

"Will you keep your fucking voice down." CJ saw the two listening.

"You're gonna make these people turn on you and I'm not going have your back when they do."

"I said keep your voice down," CJ grabbed her arm hard, accidentally on the spot where she had been badly bruised.

This caught her off guard. Danielle fell to the ground holding her arm and gasping in pain, a single tear falling as her arm throbbed.

"Oh, fuck I-" CJ tried to help her up."Danielle, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"FUCK YOU." She yelled back at him, scrambling up by herself. She pushed him out of her way and went towards the elevators.

He tried following after her. "Dammit Danielle, I said I was sorry-" he looked over at Ana and Michael, making eye contact. "What the fuck are you looking at?" he said, shaking his head and walking off.

"That asshole is gonna get us killed." Michael said to everyone in the store. They went on talking and arguing while CJ made his way to the TV store. Danielle was already curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket when CJ walked in. He apologized again to her, but she ignored him. She knew she was being a bitch. She knew he didn't mean to hurt her, and she knew it was wrong for her to take out her anger on him. But, for some reason, she didn't care. He was an asshole to her all day, and she decided he could stand to see how it felt for a little while. They all sat there watching more TV together while Bart brought in a mattress for him to sleep on. Broadcast after broadcast was making Danielle feel sick. She wished that just for a moment, she could think without being reminded of those things.

"They're so full of shit. Been saying the same damn thing all day. Tell me something I don't know, asshole!" CJ yelled at the television, throwing his hat at it.

"Wanna hear something that really sucks?" Bart said as he threw himself on his makeshift bed. " You know that-that chick from Dairy Queen?"

"The fat one?" CJ said, Danielle rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, she was coming over tonight. I would have tapped that shit for sure."

"How lovely." Danielle thought to herself.

Terry snapped. "Bart, dude, everybody's dead. Okay? Your mom's dead. Your brother's dead. That fat chick at Dairy Queen?" he paused. "Dead."

Danielle took a deep breath. This was a different Terry than earlier. She guessed this virus thing had finally gotten to everybody.

"Yeah." Bart turned over into his covers."That sucks too.", he said nonchalantly.

"Apparently not _everybody_." Danielle thought again.

After a while, Terry and Bart both drifted off into sleep. Danielle and CJ sat there, wide awake, watching some religious program. Danielle twirled around her cross necklace with her fingers.

"Hell is overflowing, and Satan is sending his dead to us." The man on the television preached."When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth."

"Ugh," Danielle groaned."Turn this shit off."

"Didn't know you were still awake" CJ said to her, eyes still directed at the screen.

"I don't know how anyone can sleep knowing those things are outside." Just as she said it, the TVs shut off. She gasped, "What the hell was that?" She shot up. CJ could hear the panic in her voice.

"Calm down, it's the timers"

Danielle stayed quiet for a moment, listening. She could hear something, a sound. It was faint, but overwhelming at the same time. She realized what it was."Oh God," She gasped."I can hear them." She whimpered. She began to breathe louder, her breath was short.

CJ heard her and sat up, becoming concerned. "Hey, hey, hey," he said softly. "Relax, I'm lettin' anything get to you." He smirked, trying to make her feel better.

Danielle looked over at him and smiled, now feeling extremely guilty for freaking out on him earlier. "Thanks." she nodded. She lowered herself back down and reached into her bag. CJ watched as she pulled out her iPod and inserted the headphones into her ears. It took a while for Danielle to drift off. CJ was exhausted; He had been up for more that 24 hours, but he didn't let himself fall asleep until he saw Danielle finally close her eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Danielle's eyes fluttered open as the lights in the store came back on the next morning. "Shit" she mumbled, pulling out her headphones. She had hoped it had all been a bad dream, but here she was sprawled out on the leather couch in the TV store, still in the middle of this nightmare. Bart leaped up in fear with his gun drawn, trembling as he tried analyzing the room.

"Hey dumb ass" CJ said softly, having just woke up.

"hmm?"

"It's the timers, it's 8:00"

Bart groaned and dropped his arm in relief.

"Terry" CJ looked over at him. Terry hazily rose off the couch. "Go shut em' off." he commanded.

"It's Bart's turn." he tried to argue.

"You're the trainee man, shit rolls downhill." Bart replied.

Terry rolled his eyes and went to grab the keys from CJ. "I wish someone was working at Hallowed Grounds." he complained, shooting a face at Danielle.

"I didn't even like making coffee when I was gettin' paid for it." she fired back. Terry grunted.

"How hard is it to make a cup of coffee?" CJ said.

"I wanted a soy mocha latte with foam." Terry grumbled, walking out the door.

Bart made a disgusted face. "Faggot." he called after him.

Danielle pulled herself up. She let out a relaxed moan as she stretched, catching a glimpse from CJ. She raised her eyebrow at him, causing him to immediately look away, his gaze spotting Bart strapping his gun belt over his boxers.

"What are you doin" CJ mumbled to him, turning around to check the TVs. He looked over at all of them, every last one displaying static.

"What's the news?" Bart walked over.

CJ didn't know what to think. "Bad." he answered.

Danielle could feel herself beginning to panic again. Just last night the television had been driving her crazy, but to now be completely disconnected from the rest of the world, she began to climb to a whole new level of worry. She could feel it getting hard to breathe again. Before CJ could catch her in another one of her anxiety attacks, she placed her hand on her chest and forced herself to calm down.

She decided a nice hot shower could help her take the ease off. She was definitely in need of one; She could still smell blood on her. Even though she had rinsed off her arms, legs, and face, that scent, it just lingered.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." She announced. "That is, if you don't mind." She sneered at CJ.

He gave an exhausted smile."Yeah, that's fine. Take your gun with you just in case."

Danielle was surprised, maybe he was finally beginning start acting like his old self again.

"Me and Bart are gonna be out on the roof lookin' to see if any those helicopters come back."

"Alright" Danielle said, grabbing her gun.

Danielle grabbed a bottle of shampoo and a new outfit on her way to the employee showers. She turned on the water and let the room fill with steam. The hot water crawled down her back and almost soothed her into forgetting her worries. That is, until she saw the pink water circle the drain. She finally realized why that horrible, ingrained blood stench had been so persistent; It had dried in her hair. Every time she had moved, a wave of that copper scent hit her in the face. She felt it to be rather symbolizing though, as if she was washing off her troubles of yesterday. Hopefully today would be better, a fresh start.

She stepped out of the shower and began to dry herself off, delighted to finally be clean. The shower had done it's job; She felt much better than earlier. She wrapped her long, deep brown hair in a towel and looked at her naked body in the mirror. Her bruises had both become a harsh, dark purple splattered against her olive skin. She turned away, the remembrance of the bruises' origins made her uneasy. After removing the tags, she slipped into the new, fresh clothes, another dark pair of jeans and a soft, snug, striped tank top.

The cold air hit her once she left the bathroom. She hadn't heard anything, so she assumed CJ and Bart were unsuccessful in spotting any form of rescue. Just as she was about to enter the elevators, she caught Terry sprinting towards her.

"People! A truck! They're heading this way!" He blurted the words at her, out of breath.

"Whoa, what the fuck's going on?!" She yelled back at him, hands raised.

The elevator doors finally slid open. Terry threw himself in, yanking Danielle along side him. He mashed in the button to the roof repeatedly.

"Terry?! What the hell?" Danielle pushed him off. "Did help come!?" She looked at him, wide-eyed. He could see the expression of faith warm up her face.

Terry instantly felt guilty for getting her hopes up. "No, uh..." He tried to catch his breath. "I saw a truck on the security cameras! It looked like it was gonna crash right into the fucking mall!" He spluttered.

Danielle knew she shouldn't have expected anything more. Even though the slight optimism only lasted for a second, it was a slap in the face when it was gone. "Oh," she tried not to sound too disappointed. "So what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know. CJ's the boss."

Danielle was about to protest until the doors opened and Terry flew out. She hastened behind him, both of them meeting CJ and Bart at the edge of the roof. Bart and CJ already seemed to be discussing the situation. "All these assholes are doing is leading more of those things to us." CJ said, looking through his binoculars.

"What do we do?" Danielle asked.

CJ turned around, noticing her pretty, long hair, wet as is hung to her elbows. "Uh..No-um, nothing." He stammered. "We're not doing anything, we're not risking it." He became serious.

"But CJ they're-"

The door behind them barged open, the other group spilling out. Bart aimed his gun as soon as he saw them.

"How did you get out? Who gave you permission to loot the goddamn stores?!" CJ aggressed.

The group completely blew him off. "What are we gonna do about that truck?" Ana asked, already preparing for his militant response.

"We're not gonna do _anything_ about that truck." He said again, this time not as nice as he had for Danielle.

Ana was undaunted. "There's people in there." she responded.

"Yeah? And how do you know they're not all fucked up like everything else out there?" CJ began to raise his voice. Danielle could predict his temper being lost soon.

"Well for one thing they're driving a truck." Gunshots sounded in the distance. "Oh and shooting guns." she added.

Her smart-ass attitude was really beginning to piss him off. He could barely hold back an outburst when Danielle was giving him shit. He wasn't about to take it from some bitch he didn't even know.

His voice become rough. "If we start lettin' people in here, we're gonna let the wrong ones in. And then I'm dead. You know what? I don't wanna die!"

"Who are the wrong ones?"

"Nobody here is sick, and I intend on keepin' it that way!"

"You know, I just think we should-"

"you know what," He pulled his gun out." I DID NOT ASK FOR YOUR OPINION LADY! You wanna argue with me you can argue with this!"

"What the fuck, CJ!" Danielle muttered to him.

"Hey, take it easy." Michael thought he might be able to reason with CJ.

"SHUT your fucking mouth!" CJ directed his gun towards him then back at Ana.

"Stop it!" Danielle nudged at him, but he kept ignoring her.

"Get the gun out of my face." Ana tried to seem calm.

"If you turn them away CJ, you'll kill them!" Terry cried.

"Tough shit. Self defense."

"You asshole!" Danielle snapped.

"I'm not killing anybody!" Terry yelled over her.

CJ turned to them and raised his gun, a crazed look in his eyes. "You know what I'll you."

"No, no, no, no, CJ just stop it-" Terry pleaded.

"SHUT UP!" CJ screams alarmed everyone again.

Danielle gritted her teeth and made certain that her expression showed she wasn't afraid of him in the least.

"you too." he shifted his hand over.

"I'd like to see you fucking try." Her voice was deep and furious as she pulled her gun from her pocket and left it at her side.

"Go ahead. Lift it up." He taunted her. He never seen her so enraged. He had never seen anyone so enraged. She looked as if she could burn a hole through him with her eyes.

"Cause I'll kill you. I promise." He added. "I'll kill each and every one of you to stay alive. You hear me?" he said, aiming his gun down the line, landing on Ana again.

"I SAID GET THE FUCKING GUN OUT OF MY FACE!" she raged.

"Ooh, you got quite a mouth on you" he said, ignoring her demands.

"Somebody should show her how to use it. " Bart commented, a stupid, pompous look on his face.

Michael saw this as his opportunity and smashed his fist into Bart's nose, grabbing his gun as he collapsed to the ground. Kenneth followed, twisting CJ's arm behind his back and taking his weapon.

Two days ago if Danielle had seen someone touch him like that she probably would have jumped on their back and tried to kill them, but CJ had just finished sealing his fate with her. As soon as he held that gun to her face, she cut all the emotional ties she had to him. In a split-second, she swallowed her feelings and declared her hate for him. He had just succeeded in proving what she had naively wondered about over the last two years: He didn't give a shit about her. So, she was going to try her damned best to do the same. She felt nothing less than pleased as she watched Kenneth pull him around by the back of his collar like he was some misbehaving schoolboy. She wanted to see him humiliated after the way he treated her.

"Is there a holding cell in there?" Kenneth asked, pointing CJ's own gun at him.

CJ looked over his shoulder to see who'd betray him first.

"Yeah." Terry admitted. "Back in the security room."

"That's real good man. You're gonna get us all killed dumb ass!" CJ yelled back before Kenneth threw him inside the doorway.

He met eyes with Danielle one last time before he was taken away. Her stare almost gave him chills. He knew she hated him.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N- Sorry for the little hiatus! I honestly just thought no one was really reading my story! I didn't even plan on continuing until I looked and saw the number of views, holy shit! Well I hope you guys enjoy my little story, and now that I know it's actually being read I'll definitely focus more on continuing & working on my crappy writing skills! (: -Marie**

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Everything around her fell into a muffled murmuring. Her fingers began to ache as they continued to clench her gun tightly at her side. The lump in her throat burned, but she refused to show any signs of dismay over that bastard. She noticed Michael now standing to her side looking at her. His mouth was moving and his eyes were locked into hers, but she heard nothing. She finally breathed in and snapped back into reality.

"What?" She asked, her grip loosening.

"I said, are you alright?" He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh," she stifled a laugh that immediately confused her. "no, yeah, uh-I'm fine." She could tell that he didn't believe her as the words left her mouth, but he didn't get a chance to confront her about it.

"Hey! C'mon! This was your idea man!" Andre ran past the two, stopping at the door and holding it open. "C'mon!" his eyes widened.

They both ran after him.

Danielle had gotten so caught up in her argument with CJ that she had forgotten all about what had initially started the fight, the van in the parking lot. She was still in shock of it all. She still couldn't believe what had just happened. CJ had actually pointed a gun in her face. He had _threatened_ her, threatened to_ kill_ her to stay alive. He had threatened to kill everyone to stay alive. She couldn't believe how selfish he was, and what a fool she had been. She had actually began to convince herself that he cared about her. She had actually began to let herself care about him.

They made their way to the outside exit. Micheal and Andre were obviously nervous. Danielle was in fact, a bit grateful for the stressful situation at the moment. It let her focus on something besides CJ's face. She noticed a hole in the door. It looked like someone had taken a shotgun to it.

"This is where we got in." Micheal reassured her. He then pressed his ear to the door, but he didn't have to be listening too intently to hear what happened next. All three of them heard the blaring signal of the truck backing up.

"Why is he backing up the truck?" Micheal asked Danielle and Andres' questioning faces.

The signal got closer and before Danielle got a chance to reply to Micheal's question, the building shook as the truck slammed into the wall.

"SHIT!" Danielle and Andre yelled simultaneously.

Micheal began banging on the door trying to get the attention of somebody outside, but no one answered. "Shit, we gotta go out there."

Andre began shaking his head "You better get that bullshit out your head. I'm not goin back out there. That's not part of the plan!"

"Well we have to do something!" Danielle moved closer to the door.

"Change of plan. I'm gonna open the door." Micheal nodded at Danielle.

"One.."

"Don't do it man"

"Two..."

"No!"

"Three"

Danielle held her breath as Micheal threw himself into the door. Nothing happened.

"C'mon man" Andre rolled his eyes and undid the lock on the door.

"Thanks" Micheal placed his hands back on the handle.

"Yeah." Andre brought his gun higher.

Everyone looked at each other one last time before Micheal swung open the door.

There were already a handful of them running towards the building. Danielle and Micheal instantly began shooting while Andre ran to the passenger side of the truck.

"I don't see anybody!"

More of the corpses began sprinting towards them.

"Get back inside, they're fine!" Danielle recognized Ana's voice coming from above.

All three of them looked up to see the newcomers safely on top of the truck running towards a ladder that Anna and Luda had sent down from the rooftop.

"Goddammit!" Danielle yelled out, running back towards the door.

Andre and Micheal followed, along with the crowd of undead coming after them.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Danielle yelled from the inside, holding the door open.

Micheal and Andre finally got inside. It took all three of them to finally seal the door shut, pushing against the sea of grabbing hands on the other side. They threw some shelves against the door and made a makeshift barricade. The rumbling on the opposite side never stopped.

"Let's get out of here." Andre began walking back.

Danielle's heart was still racing. "Well that was all for fucking nothing."

"No kidding." Micheal laughed with her.

Andre kept silent as he led them upstairs. Danielle could tell he was pissed. He was reluctant to go from the start, and he ended up nearly dying for nothing. They all had. And all for strangers. Danielle could almost hear CJ bitching at her for it. Oh he would've been furious. It was exactly the kind of reckless behavior that he refused to tolerate. Useless as their mission was, Danielle was glad she took part in it. It was one of those moments where you instantly feel pride in yourself. Danielle quietly smiled to herself and thought, "_Wow_, I actually risked my life for some people I don't even know." That feeling of pride in doing something good was worth more than the security they would've felt if they had turned those people away.

At least, that's how Danielle felt until she met Steve. The ungrateful man was constantly complaining from the moment Danielle met him. He was wearing a suit almost identical to the man she had served at Hallowed Grounds two days earlier. "Ugh," She decided to get as far away from him as possible and followed Ana with a few of the new injured people.

"You know, if this is gonna work out, we gotta work on our communication." Danielle nudged Ana.

Ana was stressed, what with everything that was going on, but she still managed to let out a slight chuckle. "Well no one told you guys to run out there on some suicide mission."

"Yeah, yeah" Danielle smiled. "Just, you know, next time I risk my life tryin' to save a bunch of people that don't need savin', it'd be nice to have a little heads up."

Danielle, Terry, Ana, and most of the new group walked over to the store CJ had locked everybody up in the previous night. Ana began tending to the woman in the wheel barrel, while Danielle and Terry became acquainted with some of the strangers.

Danielle watched Nicole and her father. The hot coal in her throat returned. She began twisting her cross necklace around her fingers. "God, please. Keep them safe." She thought of her family. She couldn't bear the idea of something bad happening to them. She was still trying to convince herself that there was some way that they were OK. The alternative was unimaginable. She couldn't even consider it. Terry's cries broke her train of thought.

"Ana! Ana come here!"

Ana ran over and Danielle stood up to see what was going on. Ana placed her fingers upon the woman's bloated neck to feel a pulse. Nothing. She was dead. Ana draped a sheet over the woman's disturbing final expression and turned around. "Anyone know her name?" It remained silent.

"Died without a name? Damn." The man named Tucker took off his hat and sighed.

Danielle had seen so much death in the past two days that this woman's passing didn't affect her.

"Guys do you wanna move into the other room?" Ana started, but Danielle didn't even hear the words that came out of her mouth. Her jaw fell open and her eyes widened as she saw the dead woman rise in one swift motion. The sheet fell off of the dead woman and she opened her eyes to reveal the familiar milky covering.

"Holy shit!" Terry immediately took off.

Danielle whipped out her gun and tried aiming it at the woman, but she flew in the other direction after Ana. Ana grabbed a fire poker and threw it in the zombie woman's swollen eye. The woman fell with a final "thud" to the ground as a pool of blood began to spill out from behind her head.

"Holy shit." Ana panted. "Holy shit."

"Holy shit indeed." Danielle said to herself. She felt a little bad about her first initial thought, which was, "I'm not gonna be the one to move her ass out of here." She walked over and grabbed the wheel barrel. She looked at Terry and motioned to it. "Terry." She commanded him with her eyes.

"Oh, no. There's no way I'm takin her out of here." He shook his head furiously. Coincidentally, twenty minutes later he was back on the roof throwing over her officially lifeless body.

Once he was done with that, he joined Danielle, Andre, Kenneth, Michael, and Ana at Hollowed Grounds. They were all gathered around talking about the zombie woman and just how she managed to turn into one of those things right before their eyes.

"I think it's the bites." Ana said. "Frank said she was walking on her own when she got in the truck five hours ago. The bites killed her, the bites brought her back."

"How do you know?" Andre hardly waited for her to finish her thought.

"I watched it happen, I felt her pulse. She was gone. Then..." Ana took a slight pause and looked down. " yesterday I saw the same thing happen to somebody else."

"Ben," Danielle said quietly to herself. Terry heard, and took a deep breath in.

"I think that's how it spread so fast." Ana added.

"Alright," Michael sighed. "So who else in the group is bitten?"

"Frank for sure" Ana sipped at the drink Danielle had made her.

"What about Tucker?" Michael asked.

"He says no, he fell."

Andre walked away and Danielle looked down at her day old bruise. "Shit" she said to herself. She hadn't realized just how close she had come to death. "Bless you Momma" She was gonna kiss her leather jacket as soon as she got the chance to clean it. Her mind went back to that night on bus. She wished it hadn't. She remembered the large man that came off the bus to help her and how he had got bitten in the process. He was probably dead by now. Or as Steve liked to put it, "dead-ish". Her mind was all just one big pile of shit to feel bad about. She could hardly keep up with the number of things she had to worry about, and it disgusted her to know that CJ still made that list. She had wanted so badly to be able to just forget about him, but there was something inside of her that still wanted to confront him. How dare he threaten her like that. As if_ killing_ her wouldn't phase him at all. What was wrong with him? Their friendship had all just been nothing? After two years of opening herself up to him, he so easily was able to just toss her aside for his own personal benefit. _Did he mean it_? She wondered if what he said was true, and she hated the fact that she wondered about it.

She kept to herself for the rest of the night. The rest of the group took on bigger challenges. The bite theory proved to be true, and Danielle listened as a single gunshot ended Frank's life. A part of her wanted to console Nicole, but she didn't have the strength for it. She was a wreck herself. Distance seemed to be the best option. She couldn't afford getting close to anyone now. What was the use? They'd probably die or turn on her like CJ had.

The next few days went by faster than expected. Danielle did what any person would do given the opportunity to run around in an unattended mall. She tried on the most expensive clothes, shoes, and jewelry she could find without being scoffed at by some snobby sales person. She lived out a childhood fantasy and opened as many toys as she could in the toy store. One day, she even spent nearly 10 hours straight doing nothing but playing video games with Terry at a game store. She did whatever she could to keep her mind off the negative, but it was inevitable. In the back of her mind, no matter how much fun she forced upon herself, she still knew that hell laid beyond those mall doors. It got harder and harder each day to keep her mind occupied. Eventually, she had to give up her plan of being distant. She knew that she'd for sure go crazy unless she had someone to talk to. It didn't take long for her to start really liking people, and it killed her, but she soon realized that everyone there was just as emotionally fucked up as she was. Nicole had seen her entire family die. There was no question, Nicole saw everything with her own eyes. There was no denial like Danielle felt, and it truly baffled Danielle to see Nicole laughing and acting relatively normal, even forming a relationship with Terry.

After two weeks, Danielle had gotten to know everyone and rather liked them all, excluding Steve. She became closest to Ana though. It was the first girl friendship she had had since high school. Danielle laughed when she thought about it "huh, it only took the fucking apocalypse for me to finally be popular." She began to make a routine for everyday that always ended with a group dinner with everyone together. The women always cooked. Danielle detested the misogyny of it all, but she loved to cook, and she was damn good at it.

* * *

"I'm thinkin' fried chicken tonight." Michael mentioned to Danielle and Ana.

"What do we look like, your mother?" Ana teased.

"Aww, c'mon I haven't had fried chicken since..." He thought back to before this all happened. "aw shit."

Danielle gave a small smile. "Fried chicken sounds good."

Michael put his hands on their shoulders, "That's why you're my girls!"

Danielle and Ana rolled their eyes and laughed as Michael went to join the rest of the guys on the roof.

"Do you believe these guys?" Norma chimed in. "Thank God they got stranded here with some women, or else they'd starve."

They began preparing dinner for everyone. Danielle loved how normal it felt. They saw Glen coming from the far right.

"Oh, shit. Not another profound sexuality story." Monica whined. Ever since Glen realized that the world was ending, he felt the need to finally embrace his homosexuality. Which, didn't really bother anyone until it became nearly_ all he talked about_. Sure, he was making up for lost time, but every now and then Danielle preferred eat her breakfast without it being accompanied by some deep coming-of-age tale.

"Hello ladies. Ah, fried chicken." He paused. "You know, that was my favorite meal as a boy." Everyone knew what was coming next. "That reminds me, did I ever tell you the story about a boy named Todd who-"

"Pretty sure you have." Monica interrupted him. Ana held back a giggle.

"Yeah, you know who'd love to hear that story? Danielle smiled. "The guys in the security room! They never have company, you should tell them!"

"Oh, alright then." Glen smiled and walked off.

* * *

"This has got to be some of the best fried chicken I've ever had in my entire life." Michael announced during dinner.

"Well thank you!" Danielle smirked, "Now, ok, I guess it's my turn. Worst job?" she paused "Well hands down, that would have to be right here at Hallowed Grounds. You wouldn't believe the assholes I had to deal with on a daily basis!"

"Oh yeah!" Terry laughed. "She got fired, day before all this happened."

"What'd you do?" Monica asked.

Danielle smiled " I-"

"She threw a cup of coffee in her boss's face!" Terry interrupted. The entire table gasped and laughed together.

"I don't remember telling you that. How'd you find that out?" Danielle looked over at Terry.

"You kidding me? That's all CJ was talkin' about for the rest of the day! He was tellin' everyone that would listen how cool his friend Danielle was for tossin' that cup of coffee in that dick's face!" Terry laughed.

Danielle chuckled slightly. She hadn't heard that name in a while. He was like a phantom now. She hadn't seen or spoken to him in so long, yet he was so close by. She always felt his fucking presence, and she couldn't stand it.

"Ok Michael, your turn." Ana looked over at him. "Worst job"

He rubbed his hand behind his neck and sighed. "Well I know what job I was the worst at. It was being a husband."

"That's not a job." Monica replied.

"It sure is." Tucker added, causing a few chuckles among the group.

"Well you guys just haven't met the right girl." Monica smiled.

"Well I tried three times, I got pink slipped every time." Michael went on.

Ana looked at him, her head leaning on her hand and her eyes smiling. "Well what were you best at?"

Michael looked down then back up "Bein' a dad." He finally answered. "I think I was best at that."

The entire table fell silent. It was as if you could feel everyone's heart break. Danielle would've never imagined what Michael was going through. She was shocked to see how little she really knew about him.

Danielle blinked and the room was now a pitch black. A few of the woman instantly screamed, which caused her to jump. She hated when people screamed those shrill, high pitched screams. To her, they were always more disturbing than whatever was causing them. Kenneth stood up.

"Everybody calm down" He grabbed his gun.

"Does this place have generators?" Michael asked.

"Yeah," Danielle answered. "Terry knows where they're at, right Terry?"

Terry paused and Danielle heard him sigh in the darkness. "Actually I never really got that far in training."

"So how to we find out where the generators are?" Ana asked.

Danielle saw Terry look over at her and make eye contact in the candlelight.

"_Fuck_." She said.


	9. Chapter 9

Most of the group had decided on taking care of food while the power was out. Otherwise, their entire supply of refrigerated items would've been wasted. It was an important job, despite what it sounded like. Someone definitely had to do it, but it just wasn't Danielle's style. She instead stood next to Kenneth and loaded her shotgun as he did the same.

She felt his eyes slowly wander over to her. He didn't directly look at her when he spoke, "How'd you learn to do that?"

It was exactly the type of comment she was waiting for him to make. She smiled immediately and her thoughts went back to the good old days. "My old man was a cop, and a real hard ass." She paused. "You actually kind of remind me of him."

It was the first time she had heard Kenneth laugh. It was a short, simple laugh, but it was true. "So how well did he teach you?"

"Shit," she exclaimed, "Too well." She shook her head as she remembered her father. "Poor old man, always wanted a boy, and he ended up with me and my sister. But, that didn't stop the crazy bastard from dragging both our asses down to the shooting range every weekend."

He looked up from his weapon. " Damn, every week?"

"Yeah. Oh my sister hated it!" Danielle chuckled as she thought of her little sister, Gabrielle's, countless unaffective tantrums on Saturday mornings. She hated handling guns, thought it was too butch for a girl to do. Danielle was a different story. "But, me, God, I loved it."

She remembered those weekend mornings. The smell of her Dad's coffee as she rode in the passenger seat of his truck, a luxury only given to her on those special days. Watching the sun rise over the pink and purple horizon with the windows rolled down. Then, once they'd finally get to the shooting range, they'd be there for hours, just the three of them. She remembered how proud her dad was when she hit her first target. "Did you see that? That's my girl! She's the best damn shot in here!" He'd yell out to the entire building. And at the end of the day, when they'd all had their fun, they'd ride back home, just in time for dinner. Her sister'ed be fast asleep in the backseat, and Danielle and her dad would be talking the whole way about anything, she told her father everything.

As the years passed, and Danielle and Gabrielle got older, Gabrielle stopped tagging along. She had finally thrown a big enough fit to be excluded. Gabrielle was a Mamma's girl anyways. Danielle was so different from her. Their parents used to joke about it, their two girls, like night and day, Danielle being night. She used to envy her younger sister's naturally delicate ways. Gabrielle was what most people would call "the pretty one". Gabrielle was very much into her looks. She was taller than Danielle, despite her younger age, and thinner. Her chestnut brown hair naturally spiraled into curls while Danielle's fell flat. She wore make-up and heels and fancy clothes, and could have a high school boy on his knees with the snap of her dainty fingers. Danielle watched as her sister's life took off before hers. Gabrielle had lost her virginity before Danielle had even ever caught the attention of a boy. She became known as "Gabrielle's sister" to everyone. Sometimes it felt like even her mother was oblivious to her in the shadow of Gabrielle's radiance.

But, there was one person that never failed to make Danielle feel important, her old man. He could see how it exhausted Danielle to live her life in Gabrielle's shadow. He always knew what to say to his daughter without flat-out acknowledging her social failures. "You know one of the things I love most about you and your sister?" He asked one Saturday evening while Danielle was still in high school on the ride home from the shooting range. Danielle shrugged her shoulders. "God gave me two versions of the perfect daughter, both beautiful, amazing little girls in their own way."

Danielle scoffed, "Ugh, Dad" She looked at herself in the side view mirror. Her hair tied back in a messy ponytail, and her face, bare and pale. "You're the only person in the world who'd think that." She said flatly, looking down at her faded jeans. She felt a familiar, warm hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you are the most strong, smart, talented, girl I know. You are a _beautiful_ girl with a _beautiful_ heart."

Danielle rolled her eyes.

"Hey! I'm serious! You know your old man don't bullshit!"

Danielle laughed. He sighed, that laugh could melt his mean old stone heart any day.

"And one day, baby, the whole world's gonna see it. Including you."

Danielle wiped away the tears in her eyes and her dad turned up the radio. They rode home together in the sunset screaming out the lyrics to every song that came on. Her and her dad. He was her hero.

She had forgotten she even had those memories. It hit her hard. She tried to brush it off, hoping Kenneth wouldn't notice. The thought of her never being able to have another one of those Saturday car rides with her dad was to much to bear. She remembered her father's words intently. _"One day, the worlds gonna see it. Including you._" She shook her head. "So much for that." She thought.

"You ready to go?" Kenneth's words almost made her jump in the darkness.

She grabbed her gun and threw on her leather jacket. "Yeah."

* * *

CJ sat in the pitch black room, just waiting for one of them to finally come crawling over to ask for his help. He could hear Bart shuttering in the corner.

"Bart, would you calm the fuck down, I told you those damn generators were gonna give out sooner or later." He grasped onto the metal bars.

"Shit, it's so fucking dark." Bart complained. "You really think they're gonna come and get us?"

"How the hell else are they gonna find those back up generators? That little shit Terry doesn't know where they're at." CJ looked back at Bart, forgetting how dark it was, and saw nothing but blackness.

"You think you'll see her?" Bart asked quietly.

CJ remained silent. It was all he was thinking about. He hadn't seen or heard of Danielle in over two weeks and it was driving him insane. He remembered the last glimpse he got of her. The look in her eyes, it made him feel like shit. The moment he saw that face, he wished he could've taken it all back. "Dammit, things just got so out of control." he thought to himself. He was only trying to keep her safe, it was all bullshit of course. He would've never _"killed her to stay alive"_. She knew that. She_ had_ to have known that. _Right_? He knew it was too risky to let those people in, and what happened? Two of them were fucking bit! Idiots, they should have listened. But, no one wants to make the hard decisions. CJ was always the asshole who had to put his foot down. They wanna be in charge? Fine, but they still needed him. He knew it. That's why he was counting down the seconds until someone would come down there begging for his help. And then, he'd finally get to see her again.

"It's been 10 minutes CJ." Bart said in the darkness.

"Bart, shut the hell up. They're comin. They have to."

Bart tried to find the couch in the unlit room and finally sat down, giving up on the idea of getting out.

CJ still held onto the metal bars that separated him from freedom, beginning to lose hope himself.

Just as he was about to turn around and push Bart off the couch, he saw it. A light coming from outside the security office. Someone was coming.

"What'd I tell you boy?!" CJ smiled. Bart stood up, walking over to the metal bars next to CJ.

The light got closer and CJ could once again see his hands in front of him. The person was now recognizable. It was Michael. "Fuck," CJ thought. He couldn't fucking stand Michael.

"I guess you already know why I'm here." Michael finally spoke.

"So now you need us?" Bart spoke up.

"Shut up Bart, yeah let me the fuck out of here and I'll tell you where the generators are." CJ replied.

Michael pulled out his keys. "Well, you're more eager to help than I thought you'd be."

"Can't stay in this fucking cage much longer." Bart said as Michael unlocked the door.

Michael raised his light and shined it in their faces right as they were about to exit the room. "You know that if you two try anything, you're goin back in and not comin out."

CJ walked past him. "You're the one with the gun man, now come on."

The three of them walked down the emergency flight of stairs leading to the parking garage.

"That's it." CJ shined the light at the doors. "It's in employee parking level three. They keep 'em in a pin near the parking shuttles. Have fun." He said, turning around. Finally, he could go see Danielle.

"Wait a minute!" Micheal raised his voice. "You're coming too."

CJ turned around. "No I'm not. I said I'd tell you where the generators are, I never said I'd show you."

"Did you think I was gonna just leave you two up here? You come with me, or you go back in that cell."

CJ took a deep breath in and looked over to Bart. There was no way he was going back in that small fucking room. The faster he got this over with, the faster he could go see Danielle. "Alright,"he agreed. "I aint goin anywhere without a gun."

Michael nearly rolled his eyes at the request. Did they think he was a fucking idiot? "You're not gettin a gun."

"Trust, primary ingredient in any relationship." CJ quoted some stupid magazine he'd read.

Micheal then broke open the glass case to the emergency ax and threw it to CJ. "Have at 'em cowboy."

Bart chuckled as CJ caught the ax. "asshole" he said under his breath, causing Michael to turn around and give him a look. CJ looked around, avoiding eye contact with Micheal. "Bart, get the chains." He commanded.

Suddenly all three of them jerked around, startled by the sound of Kenneth cocking his shotgun. "Fuck!" CJ said to himself, but before he could say anything else, he saw her. She stood right behind Kenneth. She didn't see CJ right away, but he noticed when she finally did. Her eyes widened slightly, but not too much. She was expecting him, but he, he was completely caught off guard. "What the hell are you doing down here?!" He called over to her, but she ignored him. Kenneth walked over to talk to Micheal while CJ was still in shock over seeing Danielle. "Hey", he tried grabbing her arm, but she jerked away before he could touch her. She didn't even want to look at him. His very presence put her on edge.

He gave up on trying to talk to her directly, and instead called out to the entire group, "What the fuck is she doing here?! You're not seriously letting her come are you? She could get herself killed!"

Danielle finally spoke up. "That's a lot coming from the guy who put a gun in my face." She didn't look at him as she spoke.

"Oh, come on Danielle, you know I-"

"Enough!" Michael said. "Talk about it some other time. We got bigger issues on hand here."

CJ tried to sound as stern as he could. "I'm not letting her down here."

"Tough shit" Michael said. "She made this decision, and we can use all the help we can get."

CJ bit his tongue and balled his fists. "Fine." he said, moving closer to her.

Kenneth threw open the door and walked into the empty garage, flashing his light in every direction. The rest followed.

"This is level one, we gotta walk down to three." CJ said, now leading the pack with Danielle right beside him.

Kenneth shined his light against a wall to reveal a line of blood dried against the surface. "Fuck." Danielle raised her gun. This set everyone on edge.

They continued walking in the barely lit garage. "What the fuck was that?" Bart yelled out. "I just saw something."

"You didn't see shit Bart, shut the fuck up." CJ said, grabbing Danielle's arm. Surprisingly, she let him.

The noise was getting louder. "Here it comes." Bart said.

They all held their breath as they waited for something to jump out at them. Then, it happened. A black and white dog appeared from behind a pillar.

"Jesus Christ," Bart sighed, "It's a fucking dog!"

Michael kneeled down and called the dog. "Come here boy!" he said, clapping his hands. The friendly dog pranced over into Michael's arms. "At least now we know nothing's down here, it would've eaten him."

"See, I told you I saw something." Bart said.

Out of nowhere, the dog began barking like crazy. " What's wrong boy?" Michael asked.

"Nothing's wrong, that dog's just fucked up." Bart replied. But, Danielle knew better. She had a dog back at home. That dog was barking for a reason. He could sense something.

"**FUCK**!" she screamed as she saw a legless zombie climbing from the ceiling. It immediately jumped down and grabbed a hold of Bart, causing him to let out a blood-curdling scream. Michael shot in it's direction, but he only hit the light. Bart swung around screaming until he finally threw the creature off of him, clasping down on his neck where he had been bitten.

The rest of the group began hearing shrieks and groans in every direction. Then they saw them, a whole herd running towards them. "**RUN**!" Micheal yelled.

They all took off together, Bart lagging behind. "CJ, Danielle, Wait!" He desperately called after them. It was too late. Those zombies had began to grab at him.

Danielle ran back, managing to get a few of them away from him.

"Danielle!" CJ yelled after her. She turned around and there was one right behind her, inches from biting into her arm. She screamed and CJ swung his ax deep into the zombies face just as it was about to gnaw on Danielle's left arm.

"Come on! COME ON!" We gotta go!" CJ yelled into her tear-stained face. She looked back at Bart wailing in pain one last time before CJ dragged her behind the fencing of the pen. Those things had all gathered around him, ripping him to pieces with their disgusting hands.  
They closed the gates, causing the zombies to furiously try and get past them. Michael threw his gun to CJ, and began pouring gasoline all around the fence. The other three shot everything in sight until they were out of bullets.

"CJ, MATCHES!" Micheal called out.

CJ threw his hand into his pocket and dug for his lighter. He finally found it and threw on the gasoline, causing the whole fence to go up in flames.

The four of them stood there for a while, just staring at the chaos before them. It was as if all of them had lost the ability to speak.

Finally Kenneth spoke up. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

They all silently did just that, and made their way back to the mall.

CJ walked back to the security room.

"Hey, man, you don't have to go back there." Michael called after him, but CJ said nothing. He kept walking towards his little cell.

He was still numb to what had just happened. He was just here, in this exact spot an hour ago, being an asshole to Bart. Now, Bart was gone. _Dead_. It was unbelievable, and he couldn't even feel bad about it. He felt nothing. Everything was a blur. This couldn't be real. Poor simple-minded Bart. He couldn't be dead. CJ couldn't possibly have watched as he died in agonizing pain. But, he did. It was true. Bart was dead, and now CJ had no one.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he saw a flashing light approaching his cell. "Who is it? What do you want?" He yelled out. He didn't feel like dealing with any of the stupid group members right now. But he soon changed his mind once he heard her voice. God, he loved her voice.

"It's me." Danielle called out, walking into the room.

"Danielle? What are you doing here?" She was the last person he expected to see.

"I don't know. I just- I really wanted to be with you right now." She said.

He stood up from the couch he was sitting on and walked towards her. "Danielle, that day on the roof, I was such a fucking idiot-"

Danielle immediately broke down into tears. She realized that this was the first time she had really cried. She let it all out. She cried about everything, her family, her old home, her crushed dreams, how devastating her life had become, and the fact that there was nothing she could do about any of it. "I know, I knew you didn't mean it. I was such a bitch. I let them keep you here locked up! And now, Bart's dead! He's dead, and he died thinking I hated him and-"

CJ pulled her into his arms and let her cry into his chest. "No, no it was all my fault. I tried to control everything, I just-" he now realized how stupid it all seemed now. There was no way he could control anything, some things were just unpreventable. There was no way he could've kept everyone safe, not from all those things outside. He looked down at her as she sobbed in his arms. _God, he was in love with this girl_. If anything, he had to keep her safe. He had failed Bart, but he swore he'd keep Danielle safe, even if it killed him.

She sighed as he rubbed her back. Every negative thought she had about him previously had melted away. She was done arguing over stupid shit. In the last hour, she had seen how easily and how quickly someone can be gone forever. She didn't know what they were going to do or how long they had together, but she did know that she wanted to spend whatever time she had left with him. She couldn't lose someone else, not him. She didn't want to let him go. She wished they could just stay here in this moment forever and forget about their problems. She looked up at him, eyes still teary, "I even made Glen come up here and tell you guys gay stories." She admitted, still crying.

This made CJ instantly laugh, and it'd been a while since he really laughed. "I figured you had something to do with that"

She sniffled and laughed too. He kissed the top of her head. She looked up at him, and he looked back, wiping the tears off her cheeks. He began to slow down the rubbing on her back. She looked at him as his face moved closer to hers. Her heart began to pound.

"Hey! You guys in here?!" Terry barged in, flashing a light in every direction. Danielle and CJ both jumped. "Oh-eh, sorry. Hey CJ."

"Good to see you again Terry" CJ said sarcastically, trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah, uh, listen CJ I'm sorry about everything-and about Bart-" Terry stammered, trying to remember what he was going to say. "But, um, anyways, they want to see everyone over at Hallowed Grounds. We kinda all need to talk."

"What happened now?" Danielle asked.

Terry paused. "Nothing good"

The three of them walked out of the security room together and over to Hallowed Grounds to have a group meeting and hear about the latest tragedy.


End file.
